Baroclinic effects on the distribution of tropical cyclone eye subsidence
Solutions of the secondary (transverse) circulation equation for an axisymmetric, gradient balanced vortex are used to better understand the distribution of subsidence in the eye of a tropical cyclone. This secondary circulation equation is derived using both the physical radius coordinate r and the...
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Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-12-01
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Series: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
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Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.1062465/full |
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author | Wayne H. Schubert Richard K. Taft Christopher J. Slocum |
author_facet | Wayne H. Schubert Richard K. Taft Christopher J. Slocum |
author_sort | Wayne H. Schubert |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Solutions of the secondary (transverse) circulation equation for an axisymmetric, gradient balanced vortex are used to better understand the distribution of subsidence in the eye of a tropical cyclone. This secondary circulation equation is derived using both the physical radius coordinate r and the potential radius coordinate R. In the R-coordinate version, baroclinic effects are implicit in the coordinate transformation and are recovered in the final step of transforming the solution for the streamfunction Ψ back from R-space to r-space. Two types of elliptic problems for Ψ are formulated: 1) the full secondary circulation problem, which is formulated on 0 ≤ R < ∞, with the diabatic forcing due to eyewall convection appearing on the right-hand side of the elliptic equation; 2) the restricted secondary circulation problem, which is formulated on 0 ≤ R ≤ Rew, where the constant Rew is the potential radius of the inside edge of the eyewall, with no diabatic forcing but with the streamfunction specified along R = Rew. The restricted secondary circulation problem can be solved semi-analytically for the case of vertically sheared, Rankine vortex cores. The solutions identify the conditions under which large values of radial and vertical advection of θ are located in the lower troposphere at the outer edge of the eye, thereby producing a warm-ring thermal structure. |
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institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2296-6463 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:35:24Z |
publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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series | Frontiers in Earth Science |
spelling | doaj.art-c1663819b7074b1c95e99d6e565a66e52022-12-22T03:02:11ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Earth Science2296-64632022-12-011010.3389/feart.2022.10624651062465Baroclinic effects on the distribution of tropical cyclone eye subsidenceWayne H. Schubert0Richard K. Taft1Christopher J. Slocum2Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United StatesDepartment of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United StatesNOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United StatesSolutions of the secondary (transverse) circulation equation for an axisymmetric, gradient balanced vortex are used to better understand the distribution of subsidence in the eye of a tropical cyclone. This secondary circulation equation is derived using both the physical radius coordinate r and the potential radius coordinate R. In the R-coordinate version, baroclinic effects are implicit in the coordinate transformation and are recovered in the final step of transforming the solution for the streamfunction Ψ back from R-space to r-space. Two types of elliptic problems for Ψ are formulated: 1) the full secondary circulation problem, which is formulated on 0 ≤ R < ∞, with the diabatic forcing due to eyewall convection appearing on the right-hand side of the elliptic equation; 2) the restricted secondary circulation problem, which is formulated on 0 ≤ R ≤ Rew, where the constant Rew is the potential radius of the inside edge of the eyewall, with no diabatic forcing but with the streamfunction specified along R = Rew. The restricted secondary circulation problem can be solved semi-analytically for the case of vertically sheared, Rankine vortex cores. The solutions identify the conditions under which large values of radial and vertical advection of θ are located in the lower troposphere at the outer edge of the eye, thereby producing a warm-ring thermal structure.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.1062465/fulltropical cycloneeye subsidencebaroclinic effectssecondary circulationgradient balanced vortex |
spellingShingle | Wayne H. Schubert Richard K. Taft Christopher J. Slocum Baroclinic effects on the distribution of tropical cyclone eye subsidence Frontiers in Earth Science tropical cyclone eye subsidence baroclinic effects secondary circulation gradient balanced vortex |
title | Baroclinic effects on the distribution of tropical cyclone eye subsidence |
title_full | Baroclinic effects on the distribution of tropical cyclone eye subsidence |
title_fullStr | Baroclinic effects on the distribution of tropical cyclone eye subsidence |
title_full_unstemmed | Baroclinic effects on the distribution of tropical cyclone eye subsidence |
title_short | Baroclinic effects on the distribution of tropical cyclone eye subsidence |
title_sort | baroclinic effects on the distribution of tropical cyclone eye subsidence |
topic | tropical cyclone eye subsidence baroclinic effects secondary circulation gradient balanced vortex |
url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.1062465/full |
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