The Dynamics of Hurricanes

在该项目下支持的研究人员将应用理论，数值模型和现有观测分析的组合，以促进对飓风动力学的一些关键方面的理解。 研究人员认为，对底层大气动力学的基本理解主要来自平衡模式和位涡动力学的研究。 在这个建议的方法将是检查数据的指导下，从理论和数值工作中开发的基本动力学概念。 这项工作的智力价值将来自于对一些特定主题的协调检查，这些主题包括：（1）暖环热结构;（2）平衡风场和质量场及其与眼壁斜率的关系;（3）增强率对眼壁位置的敏感性（4）飓风边界层中强径向入流产生的Burger激波结构;（5）飓风上方的平流层下层结构;（6）萨菲尔-辛普森等级的不足。 通过培训研究生、加强应用数学界和大气动力学界之间的互动以及开发方便用户的应用和探索简化动力学原理的软件，将产生更广泛的影响，这些软件将免费提供给其他研究人员。 这项研究还将解决一个重要问题，即需要改进对飓风强度迅速变化及其社会影响机制的物理认识和预测。

Researchers supported under this project will apply a combination of theory, numerical models, and analysis of existing observations to advance understanding of a number of key aspects of hurricane dynamics. The investigators contend that fundamental understanding of underlying atmospheric dynamics has come primarily from studies with balanced models and potential vorticity dynamics. The approach in this proposal will be to examine data with guidance from the basic dynamical concepts developed in theoretical and numerical work. The intellectual merit of this work will come through coordinated examination of a number of specific topics that include: (1) Warm ring thermal structure; (2) balanced wind and mass fields and their relation to eyewall slope; (3) hypersensitivity of intensification rates to eyewall position (as a diabatic heating source relative to the zone of highest inertial stability); (4) Burger's shock structures produced by strong radial inflow in the hurricane boundary layer; (5) lower-stratospheric structure above a hurricane; and (6) inadequacies of the Saffir-Simpson scale. Broader impacts will accrue through training of graduate students, increased interaction between applied mathematics and atmospheric dynamics communities, and the development of user-friendly software for application and exploration simplified dynamical principles that will be made freely available to other researchers. This research will also address a significant issue, viz. the need for improved physical understanding and forecasts of mechanisms leading to rapid changes in the intensity and resulting societal impacts of hurricanes.