OBJECTIVE DIAGNOSIS OF BINARY TROPICAL CYCLONE INTERACTIONS FOR THE WESTERN NORTH-PACIFIC BASIN

Objective criteria for distinguishing among three modes of binary trop ical cyclone (TC) interactions (TCI) are defined and tested with an ri ght-year sample of western North Pacific TCs. These objective criteria lead to an approximate 4:1 ratio of hits to misses of the subjectivel y assigned TCIs. False alarm rates of approximately 20% are also found , which indicate that similar track deflections may occur for other re asons, and the objective identifications must still be carefully valid ated by a forecaster.