RAPID: Study of Landfalling Tropical Cyclones

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This research is for data collection, quality control, archive and preliminary analysis of data collected during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Hurricane Harvey was the first major hurricane landfall in the United States since 2005 and is one of the very few Category 4 hurricane landfalls in the modern weather radar era. The researchers plan to use the unprecedented observations from these hurricanes to address questions related to how hurricane dynamics impact wind and rainfall during landfall. The research has direct relevance to improving public safety by providing data to forecasters, emergency managers and engineers. The grant is in response to the NSF Dear Colleague Letter on Hurricane Harvey research (NSF 17-128). The research team will begin quality control, archiving and initial analysis of Hurricane Harvey data and to deploy the dual-polarimetric SMART-R radar and additional surface instrumentation to the landfall of Hurricane Irma. The focus of the research from Harvey and Irma will be on the role of Vortex Rossby Waves (VRWs) and spiral rainbands. The research team will address four topics: 1) Collect observations to address the coupling between the boundary layer and circulations aloft during hurricane landfall, 2) Determine the contribution of vortex Rossby wave-driven rain bands to rainfall during landfall, 3) Provide additional observations to examine the role of inward propagating asymmetries on the development and evolution of meso- and miso-scale vortices in the inner eyewall region of landfalling hurricanes, and 4) Collect observations needed to document the environment of outer rainbands to improve forecasts of tornadic storms within landfalling tropical cyclones.