Identification

Title

The influence of near-surface, high-entropy air in hurricane eyes on maximum hurricane intensity

Abstract

Using a time-dependent axisymmetric numerical model, the authors evaluate whether high-entropy air near the surface in hurricane eyes can substantially increase hurricanes’ maximum intensity. This local high-entropy anomaly is ultimately created by surface entropy fluxes in the eye. Therefore, simulations are conducted in which these surface fluxes are set to zero; results show that the high-entropy anomaly is eliminated, yet the axisymmetric tangential wind speed is only slightly weakened (by -4%, on average). These results contradict the hypothesis that transport of high-entropy air from the eye into the eyewall can significantly increase the maximum axisymmetric intensity of hurricanes. In fact, all simulations (with or without high-entropy anomalies) have an intensity that is 25-30 m s⁻¹ higher than Emanuel’s theoretical maximum intensity. Further analysis demonstrates that less then 3% of the total surface-entropy input to the hurricane comes from the eye, and therefore the total magnitude of entropy transport between the eye and eyewall is a negligible component of the entropy budget of the simulated hurricanes. This latter finding is consistent with a cursory comparison with observations.

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document

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http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d71c1xwf

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eng

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geoscientificInformation

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publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

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publication

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2009-01-01T00:00:00Z

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Copyright 2009 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.

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OpenSky Support

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UCAR/NCAR - Library

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PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

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opensky@ucar.edu

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http://opensky.ucar.edu/

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