On the secondary eyewall formation of Hurricane Edouard (2014)

A first observationally-based estimation of departures from gradient wind balance during secondary eyewall formation is presented. The study is based on the Atlantic Hurricane Edouard (2014). This storm was observed during the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Hurricane and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly weather review 2016-09, Vol.144 (9), p.3321-3331
Main Authors: Abarca, Sergio F, Montgomery, Michael T, Braun, Scott A, Dunion, Jason
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aeronautics
Boundary layer
Boundary layers
Convective activity
Cyclones
Datasets
Dropsondes
Elongated structure
Equivalent potential temperature
Experiments
Gradient winds
Hurricanes
Meteorological satellites
Potential temperature
Storms
Vertical profiles
Vertical vorticity
Vorticity
Weather
Wind
Wind shear
Winds
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Summary:A first observationally-based estimation of departures from gradient wind balance during secondary eyewall formation is presented. The study is based on the Atlantic Hurricane Edouard (2014). This storm was observed during the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) experiment, a field campaign conducted in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A total of 135 dropsondes are analyzed in two separate time periods: one named the period and the other one referred to as the period. During the secondary eyewall formation period, a time when the storm was observed to have only one eyewall, the diagnosed agradient force has a secondary maxima that coincides with the radial location of the secondary eyewall observed in the second period of study. The maximum spin up tendency of the radial influx of absolute vertical vorticity is within the boundary layer in the region of the eyewall of the storm and the spin up tendency structure elongates radially outward into the secondary region of supergradient wind, where the secondary wind maxima is observed in the second period of study. An analysis of the boundary-layer averaged vertical structure of equivalent potential temperature reveals a conditionally unstable environment in the secondary eyewall formation region. These findings support the hypothesis that deep convective activity in this region contributed to spin up of the boundary layer tangential winds and the formation of a secondary eyewall that is observed during the period.
ISSN:0027-0644
1520-0493
DOI:10.1175/MWR-D-15-0421.1