Unified Program for the Specification of Hurricane Boundary Layer Winds Over Surfaces of Specified Roughness.
Abstract
A method is developed to specify the surface stress and the wind speed and direction in the planetary boundary layer of a tropical cyclone from meteorological storm parameters available for historical hurricanes. The method is based upon a numerical primitive-equation model of the planetary boundary layer in a moving tropical cyclone. The complete time history of the evolution of the surface wind field is described from a series of characteristic wind field states calculated at discrete times in a storm's history by the steady- state model. A surface drag formulation, based upon a contemporary similarity model (Arya 1977), coupled with a Toughness parameter specification for a water surface consistent with Cardone's (1969) law, is incorporated into the numerical model and found to produce a consistent description of the integrated planetary boundary layer wind, the surface stress and its direction, and the wind speed and direction at anemometer level. The surface winds calculated in several recent hurricanes are found to be in excellent agreement with available, representative surface wind measurements made from offshore platforms and data buoys. Transformations based upon an equilibrium planetary-boundary-layer similarity model are developed to specify the surface wind over terrain of specified roughness, including lake surfaces, from the over-water wind-field solution. Calculated over-land and over-lake winds are compared to the limited measurements available for several recent storms. Hurricanes, Tropical storms, Wind fields, Numerical modeling, Winds.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA257462
Entities
People
- Catherine V. Greenwood
- J. A. Greenwood
- Vincent J. Cardone