On the Height of the Warm Core in Tropical Cyclones

AbstractThe warm-core structure of tropical cyclones is examined in idealized simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. The maximum perturbation temperature in a control simulation occurs in the midtroposphere (5–6 km), in contrast to the upper-tropospheric (>10 km) warm core that is widely believed to be typical. This conventional view is reassessed and found to be largely based on three case studies, and it is argued that the “typical” warm-core structure is actually not well known. In the control simulation, the height of the warm core is nearly constant over a wide range of intensities. From additional simulations in which either the size of the initial vortex or the microphysics parameterization is varied, it is shown that the warm core is generally found at 4–8 km. A secondary maximum often develops near 13–14 km but is almost always weaker than the primary warm core. It is demonstrated that microwave remote sensing instruments are of insufficient resolution to detect this ...

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