Tropical Cyclone Energetics

1
Tropical Cyclone Energetics

• Introduction to Simulation
• Kinetic Energy Equation
• Budget Calculations
• Wallace Hogsett
• whogsett_at_umd.edu
• Advisor Dr. Da-Lin Zhang

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Hurricane Bonnie (1998) A successful simulation.
3

• Now, well use an energy budget to obtain a
  better understanding of Bonnies structural and
  intensity changes.

• Kinetic Energy (KE)

KE tendency KE production Water Loading
Friction
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Methodology
Methodology - Center a cylinder around the
hurricane as it moves up the U.S. East Coast -
Volume integrate budget terms every three hours
(24-96h)
Radius 200 km
N
E
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Time-Azimuth plot of radar reflectivity along
the radius of maximum winds. Note the transition
from a partial eyewall to a full eyewall. Zhu et
al. (2004)
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• Conclusions
• Environmental winds strongly influence the
  structure of storm
• Most KE consumption occurs in the
  outward-slanting updrafts, not in the upper level
  outflow