Summary: The warm ocean provides the energy for tropical cyclones to form and intensify. Knowing what is happening in the air immediately above this warm ocean (called the boundary layer) tells us how that energy gets into the air. So, it is important to know what is happening there to accurately predict how strong a hurricane will become. But, these measurements close to the ocean are difficult to obtain. A Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL) can measure wind speed and direction at many heights (every 50 meters) above the ocean surface in hurricanes. The DWL installed on NOAA’s P3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft successfully measured these winds in Tropical Storm Erika in 2015. This gives us important information on how the ocean’s energy gets into the atmosphere.
Important Conclusions:
- DWL, airborne Doppler radar, and dropwindsonde wind measurements are all similar to each other, showing that the DWL can accurately measure wind speed and direction in tropical cyclones.
- The DWL measurements show that the air is spinning rapidly near the sea surface at the storm center of Erika, which helps explain why Erika stayed the same strength even though other things suggested it should weaken.
- The DWL will be useful for real-time hurricane intensity forecasts and will help us understand the boundary layer. It will also help us understand winds near the surface that can cause damage to buildings.
You can access the paper at http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/6/825