The mechanism for the maintenance of Tropical Cyclone Bill (1988) after landfall is investigated through a numerical simulation. The role of the large-scale environmental flow is examined using a scale separation technique, which isolates the tropical cyclone from the environmental flow. The results show that Bill was embedded in a deep easterly-southeasterly environmental flow to the north-northeast of a large-scale depression and to the southwest of the western Pacific subtropical high. The depression had a quasi-barotropic structure in the mid-lower troposphere and propagated northwestward with a speed similar to the northwestward movement of Bill. The moisture budgets associated with both the large-scale and the tropical cyclone scale motions indicate that persistent low-level easterly-southeasterly flow transported moisture into the inner core of the tropical cyclone. The low-level circulation of the tropical cyclone transported moisture into the eyewall to support eyewall convection, providing sufficient latent heating to counteract energy loss due to surface friction and causing the storm to weaken relatively slowly after landfall. Warming and a westward extension of the upper-level easterly flow led to westward propagation of the environmental flow in the mid-lower troposphere. As a result, Bill was persistently embedded in an environment of deep easterly flow with high humidity, weak vertical wind shear, convergence in the lower troposphere, and divergence in the upper troposphere. These conditions are favorable for both significant intensification prior to landfall and maintenance of the tropical cyclone after landfall.
