Comments on "Symmetric and asymmetric structures of hurricane boundary layer in coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean models and observations"
Authors
Zhang, Jun A.
Montgomery, Michael T.
Marks, Frank D. Jr.
Smith, Roger K.
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2014-07
Date
Publisher
American Meteorological Society (AMS)
Language
Abstract
In a recent paper, Lee and Chen (2012, hereafter LC12) presented numerical simulations of symmetric
and asymmetric hurricane boundary layer structures in a fully coupled atmosphere–wave–ocean model and used these simulations to compare aspects of the boundary layer structure against an analysis of observations. One of their main conclusions was that ‘‘the azimuthally averaged inflow layer tends to misrepresent the overall inflow structure in tropical cyclones, especially the asymmetric structure’’ (p. 3593). Another main conclusion was that the complicated asymmetric three-dimensional boundary layer structures (attributed by them to be) due in part to the air–sea and wind–wave coupling ‘‘make it difficult to parameterize the atmosphere–wave–ocean coupling effects without a fully coupled model’’ (p. 3593). After careful examination of their study, we have a number of questions regarding their methodology, their interpretations (including their interpretations of previous literature), and their conclusions. Specifically, we inquire about aspects of the methodology for defining the dynamical boundary
layer depth, the selection of the boundary layer scheme, and we question the conclusions inferred. In addition to the foregoing concerns, inaccuracies in their literature review are noted and inconsistencies between their conclusions and reported results are identified.
Type
Article
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-13-0207.1
Series/Report No
Department
Meteorology
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
NOAA Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project (HFIP)
Funder
Format
5 p.
Citation
J.A. Zhang, M.T. Montgomery, F.D. Marks, Jr., R.K. Smith, "Comments on "Symmetric and asymmetric structures of hurricane boundary layer in coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean models and observations," Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, v. 71, (July 2014), pp. 2782-2785
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.