Meso- and Miso-scale structures in the eye and eyewall of major hurricanes

Principal Investigator:

• Sim D. Aberson (HRD)

Project Members:

• Michael L. Black (HRD)
• Paul D. Reasor (HRD)
• Kathryn J. Sellwood (HRD/- CIMAS)

• Daniel Stern (NCAR)
• Sarah Ditchek (Yale University)

Understand and describe small-scale features in tropical cyclone eyewalls and their impact on intensity. 

Methods:

This will be accomplished by:

• analyzing dropwindsonde, flight-level, airborne Doppler radar, and other data within hurricane eyewalls

• Samples of dropwindsondes with extreme horizontal and vertical motions have been collected.
• High-resolution HEDAS analyses of Hurricane Fabian during the time of its polygonal eyewall structure (03 September 2003) have been completed.

• Complete study of extreme horizontal motions in eyewalls.
• Begin analysis of extreme vertical motions in eyewalls.
• Synthesize data during Fabian flight 02 September.
• Synthesize data during Felix flight 02 September.
• Analyze convective motions in the eye of Hurricane Emily (2005).
• Cluster analyses of all eyewall dropwindsonde data.

• Eyewall mesovortices on blog

• Aberson, S. D., and J. B. Halverson, 2006: Kelvin-Helmholtz waves in the eyewall of Hurricane Erin. Mon. Wea. Rev., 134, 1036-1038. 
• Aberson, S. D., J. Dunion, and F. D. Marks, Jr., 2006: Photograph of a wavenumber two asymmetry in the eye of Hurricane Erin. J. Atmos. Sci.,63, 387-391. 
• Montgomery, M. T., M. Bell, S. D. Aberson, and M. L. Black, 2006: Aberson, S. D., J. Dunion, and F. D. Marks, Jr., 2004: Photograph of a Superintense winds in Hurricane Isabel Part I : Mean vortex structure. Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., 87, 1335-1347. 
• Aberson, S. D., M. Bell, and M. L. Black, M. T. Montgomery, 2006: Superintense winds in Hurricane Isabel Part II : Extreme wind speeds. Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., 87, 1349-1354.