On the violation of gradient wind balance at the top of tropical cyclones

Yair Cohen, Nili Harnik, Eyal Heifetz, David S. Nolan, Dandan Tao, Fuqing Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

The existence of physical solutions for the gradient wind balance is examined at the top of 12 simulated tropical cyclones. The pressure field at the top of these storms, which depends on the vertically integrated effect of the warm core and the near surface low, is found to violate the gradient wind balance—termed here as a state of nonbalance. Using a toy model, it is shown that slight changes in the relative location and relative widths of the warm core drastically increase the isobaric curvature at the upper level pressure maps leading to nonbalance. While idealized storms return to balance within several days, simulations of real-world tropical cyclones retain a considerable degree of nonbalance throughout the model integration. Comparing mean and maximum values of different storms shows that peak nonbalance correlates with either peak intensity or intensification, implying the possible importance of nonbalance at upper levels for the near surface winds.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)8017-8026
Number of pages10
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume44
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 16 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Geophysics
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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