On the spirality of the asymmetric rain field of tropical cyclones under vertical wind shear
Author(s)
Lau, KH
Toumi, R
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The downshear-left enhancement of tropical cyclone rainfall has been demonstrated previously, but the radial dependence of this effect was not analyzed in detail. This study quantifies the progressive upwind shift of the wavenumber-1 maximum rain position with radius relative to the vertical wind shear direction. This shift is visualized as a distinctive upwind spiral of the maximum. It is shown that this spiral pattern is generally observed across various storm intensities, shear strength, and ocean basins. Detailed examination revealed that the maximum downwind deflection angle of the wavenumber-1 rain maximum relative to the shear direction is smaller for tropical storms than hurricanes, but insensitive to hurricane intensity. It is proposed that the spirality is produced by a continuous decline in angular advection of air parcels with radius. The stability of the deflection angle in hurricanes may be accounted for by a corresponding increase in vertical ascent under strengthening angular flow.
Date Issued
2024-09
Date Acceptance
2024-09-11
Citation
Geophysical Research Letters, 2024, 51 (18)
ISSN
0094-8276
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Journal / Book Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
51
Issue
18
Copyright Statement
© 2024. The Author(s). Geophysical Research Letters published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024gl109388
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e2024GL109388
Date Publish Online
2024-09-24