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Wu L, Liu Q, Li Y. Prevalence of tornado-scale vortices in the tropical cyclone eyewall. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018;115(33):8307-8310doi: 10.1073/pnas.1807217115.
Wu, L., Liu, Q., & Li, Y. (2018). Prevalence of tornado-scale vortices in the tropical cyclone eyewall. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(33), 8307-8310. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1807217115
Wu, Liguang, et al. "Prevalence of tornado-scale vortices in the tropical cyclone eyewall." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America vol. 115,33 (2018): 8307-8310. doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1807217115
Wu L, Liu Q, Li Y. Prevalence of tornado-scale vortices in the tropical cyclone eyewall. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Aug 14;115(33):8307-8310. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1807217115. Epub 2018 Jul 30. PMID: 30061409; PMCID: PMC6099912.
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Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Aug 14;115(33):8307-8310. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1807217115. Epub 2018 Jul 30.

Prevalence of tornado-scale vortices in the tropical cyclone eyewall.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Liguang Wu, Qingyuan Liu, Yubin Li

Affiliations

  1. Pacific Typhoon Research Center, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China; [email protected].
  2. Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.
  3. Pacific Typhoon Research Center, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.

PMID: 30061409 PMCID: PMC6099912 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1807217115

Abstract

Analyses of datasets from manned research flights that penetrated hurricane eyes and tropical cyclone (TC) damage surveys strongly suggest the existence of tornado-scale vortices in the turbulent boundary layer of the TC eyewall. However, their small horizontal scale, their fast movement, and the associated severe turbulence make the tornado-scale vortex very difficult to observe directly. To understand tornado-scale vortices in the TC eyewall and their influence on the TC vortex, mesoscale rainbands, and convective clouds, a numerical experiment including seven nested domains with the smallest horizontal grid interval of 37 m is conducted to perform a large eddy simulation (LES) with the Advanced Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. We show that most of the observed features associated with tornado-scale vortices can be realistically simulated in the WRF-LES framework. The numerical simulation confirms the existence of simulated tornado-scale vortices in the turbulent boundary layer of the TC eyewall. Our numerical experiment suggests that tornado-scale vortices are prevalent at the inner edge of the intense eyewall convection.

Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Keywords: large eddy simulation; tornado-scale vortex; tropical cyclone eyewall

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

  1. Science. 1998 Apr 24;280(5363):555-7 - PubMed

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