Polarimetric Signatures in Landfalling Tropical Cyclones

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2021 · Monthly Weather Review

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/mwr-d-20-0111.1· OSTI ID:1851889

Homeyer, Cameron R. ^[1]; Fierro, Alexandre O. ^[2]; Schenkel, Benjamin A. ^[2]; Didlake, Anthony C. ^[3]; McFarquhar, Greg M. ^[4]; Hu, Jiaxi ^[2]; Ryzhkov, Alexander V. ^[2]; Basara, Jeffrey B. ^[5]; Murphy, Amanda M. ^[4]; Zawislak, Jonathan ^[6]

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1. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). School of Meteorology; Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
2. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). Cooperative Inst. for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Norman, OK (United States). Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). National Severe Storms Lab.
3. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science
4. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). Cooperative Inst. for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies; Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). School of Meteorology
5. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). School of Meteorology; Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
6. Univ. of Miami, FL (United States).Cooperative Inst. for Marine and Atmospheric Studies; National Oceanic Miami, FL (United States). Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab. Hurricane Research Division

Polarimetric radar observations from the NEXRAD WSR-88D operational radar network in the contiguous United States, routinely available since 2013, are used to reveal three prominent microphysical signatures in landfalling tropical cyclones: 1) hydrometeor size sorting within the eyewall convection, 2) vertical displacement of the melting layer within the inner core, and 3) dendritic growth layers within stratiform regions of the inner core. Size sorting signatures within eyewall convection are observed with greater frequency and prominence in more intense hurricanes, and are observed predominantly within the deep-layer environmental wind shear vector-relative quadrants that harbor the greatest frequency of deep convection (i.e., downshear and left-of-shear). Melting-layer displacements are shown that exceed 1 km in altitude compared to melting-layer altitudes in outer rainbands and are complemented by analyses of archived dropsonde data. Dendritic growth and attendant snow aggregation signatures in the inner core are found to occur more often when echo-top altitudes are low (≤10 km MSL), nearer the -15°C isotherm commonly associated with dendritic growth. These signatures, uniquely observed by polarimetric radar, provide greater insight into the physical structure and thermodynamic characteristics of tropical cyclones, which are important for improving rainfall estimation and the representation of tropical cyclones in numerical models.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0014295
• OSTI ID: 1851889
• Journal Information: Monthly Weather Review, Journal Name: Monthly Weather Review Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 149; ISSN 0027-0644
• Publisher: American Meteorological Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Cloud microphysics
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Radars/Radar observations
Tropical cyclones