The efficiency of diabatic heating and tropical cyclone intensification
Abstract
Widely held arguments attributing the increasingly rapid intensification of tropical cyclones to the increasing ‘efficiency’ of diabatic heating in the cyclone's inner core region associated with deep convection are examined. The efficiency, in essence the amount of temperature warming compared with the amount of latent heat released, is argued to increase as the vortex strengthens on account of the strengthening inertial stability. Another aspect of the efficiency ideas concerns the location of the heating in relation to the radius of maximum tangential wind speed, with heating inside this radius seen to be more efficient in rapidly developing a warm‐core thermal structure and, presumably, a rapid increase in the tangential wind.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 31, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1002/qj.2804
Entities
People
- Michael T. Montgomery
- Roger K. Smith
Organizations
- German Research Foundation
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Naval Postgraduate School
- Office of Naval Research Global