LAUSR

To develop an objective standard for defining binary tropical cyclones (BTCs) in the western North Pacific (WNP), two best-track datasets, from the China Meteorological Administration and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, were adopted for statistical analyses on two important characteristics of BTCs—two TCs approaching each other, and counterclockwise spinning. Based on the high consistency between the two datasets, we established an objective standard, which includes a main standard for defining BTCs and a secondary standard for identifying typical/atypical BTCs. The main standard includes two requirements: two coexisting TCs are a pair of BTCs if (i) the separation distance is ⩽ 1800 km, and (ii) this separation maintains for at least 12 h. Meanwhile, the secondary standard defines a typical BTC as one for which there is at least one observation when the two TCs approach each other and spin counterclockwise simultaneously. Under the standard, the ratio of typical BTCs increases as the BTC duration increases or the minimum distance between the two TCs decreases. Then, using the JTWC dataset, it was found that there are 505 pairs of BTCs during the period 1951–2014, including 328 typical BTCs and 177 atypical BTCs, accounting for 65.0% and 35.0% of the total, respectively. In addition, a study of two extreme phenomena—the maximum approaching speed and the maximum counterclockwise angular velocity in typical BTCs—shows that the configuration of the circulation conditions and the distribution of the BTCs favor the formation of these extreme phenomena.