Warm Core Structure of Hurricane Erin Diagnosed from High Altitude Dropsondes during CAMEX-4

Abstract A combination of multiaircraft and several satellite sensors were used to examine the core of Hurricane Erin on 10 September 2001, as part of the Fourth Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX-4) program. During the first set of aircraft passes, around 1700 UTC, Erin was still at its maximum intensity with a central pressure of 969 hPa and wind speed of 105 kt (54 m s−1). The storm was moving slowly northwestward at 4 m s−1, over an increasingly colder sea surface. Three instrumented aircraft, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) P3 with radar, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ER-2 at 19 km, newly equipped with GPS dropwindsondes, and the NASA DC-8 with dropwindsondes flew in formation across the eye at about 1700 UTC and again 2.5 h later around 1930 UTC. The storm had weakened by 13 m s−1 between the first and second eye penetrations. The warm core had a maximum temperature anomaly of only 11°C, located at 500 hPa, much weaker and lower than activ...