Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Flight-Level Thermodynamic Instrument Wetting Errors in Hurricanes. Part II: Implications

Matthew D. Eastin Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

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Peter G. Black Hurricane Research Division, NOAA/AOML, Miami, Florida

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William M. Gray Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

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Print Publication:
01 Apr 2002
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(2002)130<0842:FLTIWE>2.0.CO;2
Page(s):
842–851
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Abstract

The implications of flight-level instrument wetting error removal upon the mean thermodynamic structure across the eyewall, buoyancy of rainband vertical motions, and vertical energy fluxes near the top of the inflow layer are studied. Thermodynamic quantities across the mean eyewall are found to increase at all levels. As a result, maximum radial gradients of each quantity are shifted from the center of the eyewall cloud toward the outer edge. The increase in equivalent potential temperature lifts eyewall values to comparable magnitudes observed in the eye. The mean virtual potential temperature deviation of rainband updrafts increases from slightly negative to slightly positive. This increase and shift in sign are more pronounced in stronger updrafts. The mean deviation in rainband downdrafts decreases slightly toward neutral conditions. Vertical sensible heat fluxes near the top of the inflow layer are found to shift from downward to upward. Upward latent heat fluxes increase. Implications of these results upon hurricane structure and evolution are discussed.

Corresponding author address: Matthew D. Eastin, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. Email: eastin@mpi.atmos.colostate.edu

Abstract

The implications of flight-level instrument wetting error removal upon the mean thermodynamic structure across the eyewall, buoyancy of rainband vertical motions, and vertical energy fluxes near the top of the inflow layer are studied. Thermodynamic quantities across the mean eyewall are found to increase at all levels. As a result, maximum radial gradients of each quantity are shifted from the center of the eyewall cloud toward the outer edge. The increase in equivalent potential temperature lifts eyewall values to comparable magnitudes observed in the eye. The mean virtual potential temperature deviation of rainband updrafts increases from slightly negative to slightly positive. This increase and shift in sign are more pronounced in stronger updrafts. The mean deviation in rainband downdrafts decreases slightly toward neutral conditions. Vertical sensible heat fluxes near the top of the inflow layer are found to shift from downward to upward. Upward latent heat fluxes increase. Implications of these results upon hurricane structure and evolution are discussed.

Corresponding author address: Matthew D. Eastin, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. Email: eastin@mpi.atmos.colostate.edu

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