Identification

Title

Documenting Coherent Turbulent Structures in the boundary layer of intense hurricanes through wavelet analysis on IWRAP and SAR data

Abstract

New radar remote sensing measurements of the turbulent hurricane boundary layer (HBL) are examined through analysis of airborne (Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (IWRAP)) and spaceborne (synthetic aperture radar (SAR)) data from Hurricanes Dorian (2019) and Rita (2005). These two systems provide a wide range of storm intensities and intensity trends to examine the turbulent HBL. The central objective of the work is to document the characteristics of coherent turbulent structures (CTSs) found in the eyewall region of the HBL. Examination of the IWRAP data in Dorian shows that the peak, localized wind speeds are found inside the CTSs near the eye-eyewall interface. The peak winds are typically located at lower levels (0.15-0.50) km but sometimes are found at higher levels (1.0-1.5 km) when the CTSs are stretched vertically. A SAR overpass of Dorian's eyewall showed ocean surface backscatter perturbations at the eye-eyewall interface that have connections to the CTSs identified in the IWRAP data. Wavelet analysis, including detailed significance testing, was performed on the IWRAP and SAR data to study the CTS wavelengths and power characteristics. Both datasets showed a multiscale structure in the wavelet power spectrum with peaks at similar to 10 km (eyewall), similar to 4-5 km (merger of small-scale eddies), and similar to 2 km (native scale of the CTSs). The similar to 2-km native scale of the CTSs is robust across intensity trends (rapid intensification, weakening, and steady state), storm cases, and region of the storm. This information is useful for turbulence parameterization schemes used in numerical models that require the specification of a turbulent length scale.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7ks6wjj

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2023-01-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact