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This analysis introduces a novel airborne Doppler radar database, referred to as the Tropical Cyclone Radar Archive of Doppler Analyses with Re-centering (TC-RADAR). TC-RADAR comprises over 900 analyses from 273 flights into TCs in the North Atlantic, eastern North Pacific, and central North Pacific basins between 1997 and 2020. This database contains abundant sampling across a wide range of TC intensities, which facilitated a comprehensive observational analysis on how the three-dimensional, kinematic TC inner-core structure is related to TC intensity. To examine the storm-relative TC structure, we implemented a novel TC center-finding algorithm. Here, we show that TCs below hurricane intensity tend to have monopolar radial profiles of vorticity and a wide range of vortex tilt magnitudes. As TC intensity increases, vorticity becomes maximized within an annulus inward of the peak wind, the vortex decays more slowly with height, and the vortex tends to be more aligned in the vertical. The TC secondary circulation is also strongly linked to TC intensity, as more intense storms have shallower and stronger lower-tropospheric inflow as well as larger azimuthally averaged ascent. The distribution of vertical velocity is found to vary with TC intensity, height, and radial domain. These results—and the capabilities of TC-RADAR—motivate multiple avenues for future work, which are discussed. Significance Statement: Acquiring observations of the inner core of tropical cyclones (TCs) is a challenge due to the hazardous conditions inherent to the storm. A proven method of sampling the TC core region is the use of airborne radar. This study presents a novel database comprising over 900 airborne radar analyses collected in storms between 1997 and 2020, which is freely available to the research community. Here we demonstrate the utility of the database by examining how the three-dimensional structure of the TC core region changes depending upon the intensity of the storm. By identifying how the baseline TC vortex structure varies with TC intensity, this work provides the foundation for multiple future research avenues and model evaluation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2005, NOAA has conducted the annual Intensity Forecasting Experiment (IFEX), led by scientists from the Hurricane Research Division at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. They partner with NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center, who maintain and operate the WP-3D and Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV) Hurricane Hunter aircraft, and NCEP's National Hurricane Center and Environmental Modeling Center, who task airborne missions to gather data used by forecasters for analysis and forecasting and for ingest into operational numerical weather prediction models. The goal of IFEX is to improve tropical cyclone (TC) forecasts using an integrated approach of analyzing observations from aircraft, initializing and evaluating forecast models with those observations, and developing new airborne instrumentation and observing strategies targeted at filling observing gaps and maximizing the data's impact in model forecasts. This summary article not only highlights recent IFEX contributions toward improved TC understanding and prediction, but also reflects more broadly on the accomplishments of the program during the 16 years of its existence. It describes how IFEX addresses high-priority forecast challenges, summarizes recent collaborations, describes advancements in observing systems monitoring structure and intensity, as well as in assimilation of aircraft data into operational models, and emphasizes key advances in understanding of TC processes, particularly those that lead to rapid intensification. The article concludes by laying the foundation for the next generation of IFEX as it broadens its scope to all TC hazards, particularly rainfall, storm-surge inundation, and tornadoes, that have gained notoriety during the last few years after several devastating landfalling TCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hurricane Research Division Doppler radar analysis software provides three-dimensional analyses of the three wind components in tropical cyclones. Although this software has been used for over a decade, there has never been a complete and in-depth evaluation of the resulting analyses. The goal here is to provide an evaluation that will permit the best use of the analyses, but also to improve the software. To evaluate the software, analyses are produced from simulated radar data acquired from an output of a Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) model nature run and are compared against the model "truth" wind fields. Comparisons of the three components of the wind show that the software provides analyses of good quality. The tangential wind is best retrieved, exhibiting an overall small mean error of 0.5 m s-1 at most levels and a root-mean-square error less than 2 m s-1. The retrieval of the radial wind is also quite accurate, exhibiting comparable errors, although the accuracy of the tangential wind is generally better. Some degradation of the retrieval quality is observed at higher altitude, mainly due to sparser distribution of data in the model. The vertical component of the wind appears to be the most challenging to retrieve, but the software still provides acceptable results. The tropical cyclone mean azimuthal structure and wavenumber structure are found to be very well captured. Sources of errors inherent to airborne Doppler measurements and the effects of some of the simplifications used in the simulation methodology are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiscale inner-core structure of mature tropical cyclones is presented via the use of composites of airborne Doppler radar analyses. The structure of the axisymmetric vortex and the convective and turbulent-scale properties within this axisymmetric framework are shown to be consistent with many previous studies focusing on individual cases or using different airborne data sources. On the vortex scale, these structures include the primary and secondary circulations, eyewall slope, decay of the tangential wind with height, low-level inflow layer and region of enhanced outflow, radial variation of convective and stratiform reflectivity, eyewall vorticity and divergence fields, and rainband signatures in the radial wind, vertical velocity, vorticity, and divergence composite mean and variance fields. Statistics of convective-scale fields and how they vary as a function of proximity to the radius of maximum wind show that the inner eyewall edge is associated with stronger updrafts and higher reflectivity and vorticity in the mean and have broader distributions for these fields compared with the outer radii. In addition, the reflectivity shows a clear characteristic of stratiform precipitation in the outer radii and the vorticity distribution is much more positively skewed along the inner eyewall than it is in the outer radii. Composites of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) show large values along the inner eyewall, in the hurricane boundary layer, and in a secondary region located at about 2-3 times the radius of maximum wind. This secondary peak in TKE is also consistent with a peak in divergence and in the variability of vorticity, and they suggest the presence of rainbands at this radial band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hurricane turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) was computed using airborne Doppler measurements from the NOAA WP-3D tail radars, and TKE data were retrieved for a variety of storms at different stages of their life cycle. The geometry of the radar analysis coupled with the relatively small beam resolution at ranges <8 km allowed for the estimation of subkilometer turbulent processes. Two-dimensional profiles of TKE were constructed and revealed that the strongest turbulence was generally located in convective regions, such as the eyewall, with magnitudes often exceeding 15 m2 s−2 and in the boundary layer with values of 5-10 m2 s−2 in the lowest kilometer. A correlation analysis showed that the strong turbulence was generally associated with strong horizontal shear of vertical and radial wind components in the eyewall and strong vertical shear of horizontal wind in the boundary layer. Mean vertical profiles of TKE decrease sharply above the hurricane boundary layer and level off at low magnitude for all regions outside the radius of maximum wind. The quality of the retrieval method was evaluated and showed very good agreement with TKE values directly calculated from the three-dimensional wind components of in situ measurements. The method presented here provides a unique opportunity to assess hurricane turbulence throughout the storm, especially in high-wind regions, and can be applied on extensive datasets of past and future airborne hurricane penetrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure and evolution of rapidly intensifying Hurricane Guillermo (1997) is examined using airborne Doppler radar observations. In this first part, the low-azimuthal-wavenumber component of the vortex is presented. Guillermo's intensification occurred in an environmental flow with 7–8 m s-1 of deeplayer vertical shear. As a consequence of the persistent vertical shear forcing of the vortex, convection was observed primarily in the downshear left quadrant of the storm. The greatest intensification during the ∼6-h Doppler observation period coincided with the formation and cyclonic rotation of several particularly strong convective bursts through the left-of-shear semicircle of the eyewall. Some of the strongest convective bursts were triggered by azimuthally propagating low-wavenumber vorticity asymmetries. Mesoscale budget analyses of axisymmetric angular momentum and relative vorticity within the eyewall are presented to elucidate the mechanisms contributing to Guillermo's structural evolution during this period. The observations support a developing conceptual model of the rapidly intensifying, vertically sheared hurricane in which shear-forced mesoscale ascent in the downshear eyewall is modulated by internally generated vorticity asymmetries yielding episodes of anomalous intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rain and water vapor were collected during flights in Hurricanes Olivia (1994), Opal (1995), Marilyn (1995), and Hortense (1995) and analyzed for their stable isotopic concentrations, or ratios, H[SUB2][SUP18]O:H[SUB2]O and HDO:H[SUB2]O. The spatial patterns and temporal changes of isotope ratios reflect details of a hurricane's structure, evolution, microphysics, and water budget. At all flight levels over the sea (850-475 hPa) the lowest isotope ratios occur in or near regions of stratiform rains between about 50 and 250 km from the eye. Isotope ratios are higher in the eyewall and were particularly high in the crescent-shaped eyewall of Hurricane Opal at a time when no rain was falling over a large area near the storm center. In Hurricane Olivia, isotope ratios decreased from 24 to 25 September after vertical and radial circulation weakened. A two-layer isotope model of a radially symmetric hurricane simulates these features. The low isotope ratios are caused by fractionation in extensive, thick, precipitating clouds with predominantly convergent low-level flow accompanied by removal of heavy isotopes by falling raindrops. Evaporation and isotope equilibration of sea spray increase isotope ratios of the ambient vapor and produce a deuterium excess or enrichment of D relative to [SUP18]O that increases with decreasing relative humidity and increasing wind speed. Model results show that sea spray supplies the eyewall with up to 50% of its water vapor and is largely responsible for its high isotope ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The asymmetric dynamics of the hurricane inner-core region is examined through a novel analysis of high temporal resolution, three-dimensional wind fields derived from airborne dual-Doppler radar. Seven consecutive composites of Hurricane Olivia’s (1994) wind field with 30-min time resolution depict a weakening storm undergoing substantial structural changes. The symmetric and asymmetric mechanisms involved in this transformation are considered separately. To zeroth order the weakening of the primary circulation is consistent with the axisymmetric vortex spindown theory of Eliassen and Lystad for a neutrally stratified atmosphere. Vertical shear, however, increased dramatically during the observation period, leading to a strong projection of the convection onto an azimuthal wavenumber 1 pattern oriented along the maximum vertical shear vector. Recent theoretical ideas elucidating the dynamics of vortices in vertical shear are used to help explain this asymmetry. The role of asymmetric vorticity dynamics in explaining some of the physics of hurricane intensity change motivates a special focus on Olivia’s vorticity structure. It is found that an azimuthal wavenumber 2 feature dominates the asymmetry in relative vorticity below 3-km height. The characteristics of this asymmetry deduced from reflectivity and wind composites during a portion of the observation period show some consistency with a wavenumber 2 discrete vortex Rossby edge wave. Barotropic instability is suggested as a source for the wavenumber 2 asymmetry through a series of barotropic numerical simulations. Trailing bands of vorticity with radial wavelengths of 5–10 km are observed in the inner core approximately 20 km from the storm center, and may be symmetrizing vortex Rossby waves. Elevated reflectivity bands with radial scales comparable to those of the vorticity bands, also near 20–25-km radius, may be associated with these vorticity features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part III. Examines the inner structure of Hurricane Norbert which struck in 1984. Water budget description; Precipitation and radar reflectivity; Cloud content; Condensation and evaporation; Azimuthally averaged mean structure and advection; Azimuthally averaged advection by quadrant; Constant radius analyses of radical advection; Comparison with earlier budget studies.