The generation of kinetic energy in tropical cyclones revisited
Preprint (3.017Mb)Abstract
Many previous diagnoses of the global kinetic energy for a tropical cyclone have given prominence to a global integral of a pressure-work term in the generation of kinetic energy. However, in his erudite textbook of atmospheric and oceanic dynamics, Gill (1982) derives a form of the kinetic energy equation in which there is no such explicit source term. In this paper we revisit the interpretations of the generation of kinetic energy given previously in the light of Gill's analysis and compare the various interpretations, which are non-unique.Further, even though global energetics provide a constraint on the flow evolution, in the context of the kinetic energy equation, they conceal important aspects of energy generation and consumption, a finding that highlights the limitations of a global kinetic energy budget in revealing the underlying dynamics of tropical cyclones.
Description
This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record.
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/qj.3332
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.Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
The evolution of jet features during the 1993 East Coast White Hurricane: a case study using the Global Spectral Model
(Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 1993-12);During the period of 12 through 14 March 1993 a major snow storm, later described as a White Hurricane, formed over the Gulf of Mexico, moved east-northeast across the Florida panhandle, and then headed northeast along the ... -
Intraseasonal relationships between tropical heating and extratropical jets
(Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 1992-12);Intraseasonal variations of the northern midlatitude circulation and their relationships with the global tropical heating field are investigated using climate model fields. The greatest intraseasonal variance in the ... -
Short term teleconnections associated with western Pacific tropical cyclones
(Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 1994);The short term teleconnections arising from an individual tropical cyclone in the western Pacific were examined using a global operational data assimilation system and forecast model. In the ...
