Fuel for cyclones: The water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement
Despite the dangers associated with tropical cyclones and their rainfall, the origin of the moisture in these storms, which include destructive hurricanes and typhoons, remains surprisingly uncertain. Existing studies have focused on the region 40–400 km from a cyclone's center. It is known tha...
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/579853 2024-01-14T10:09:08+01:00 Fuel for cyclones: The water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement Makarieva, Anastassia M. Gorshkov, Victor G. Nefiodov, Andrei V. Chikunov, Alexander V. Sheil, Douglas Nobre, Antonio Donato Li, Bai Lian 2017 text/html https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/fuel-for-cyclones-the-water-vapor-budget-of-a-hurricane-as-depend https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.04.006 en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/542704 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/fuel-for-cyclones-the-water-vapor-budget-of-a-hurricane-as-depend doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.04.006 info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess (c) publisher Wageningen University & Research Atmospheric Research 193 (2017) ISSN: 0169-8095 Condensation Precipitation Tropical cyclones info:eu-repo/semantics/article Article/Letter to editor info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2017 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.04.006 2023-12-20T23:17:14Z Despite the dangers associated with tropical cyclones and their rainfall, the origin of the moisture in these storms, which include destructive hurricanes and typhoons, remains surprisingly uncertain. Existing studies have focused on the region 40–400 km from a cyclone's center. It is known that the rainfall within this area cannot be explained by local processes alone but requires imported moisture. Nonetheless, the dynamics of this imported moisture appears unknown. Here, considering a region up to three thousand kilometers from cyclone center, we analyze precipitation, atmospheric moisture and movement velocities for severe tropical cyclones – North Atlantic hurricanes. Our findings indicate that even over such large areas a hurricane's rainfall cannot be accounted for by concurrent evaporation. We propose instead that a hurricane consumes pre-existing atmospheric water vapor as it moves. The propagation velocity of the cyclone, i.e. the difference between its movement velocity and the mean velocity of the surrounding air (steering flow), determines the water vapor budget. Water vapor available to the hurricane through its movement makes the hurricane self-sufficient at about 700 km from the hurricane center obviating the need to concentrate moisture from greater distances. Such hurricanes leave a dry wake, whereby rainfall is suppressed by up to 40% compared to the local long-term mean. The inner radius of this dry footprint approximately coincides with the hurricane's radius of water self-sufficiency. We discuss how Carnot efficiency considerations do not constrain the power of such open systems. Our findings emphasize the incompletely understood role and importance of atmospheric moisture stocks and dynamics in the behavior of severe tropical cyclones. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Atmospheric Research 193 216 230 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
Condensation Precipitation Tropical cyclones |
spellingShingle |
Condensation Precipitation Tropical cyclones Makarieva, Anastassia M. Gorshkov, Victor G. Nefiodov, Andrei V. Chikunov, Alexander V. Sheil, Douglas Nobre, Antonio Donato Li, Bai Lian Fuel for cyclones: The water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement |
topic_facet |
Condensation Precipitation Tropical cyclones |
description |
Despite the dangers associated with tropical cyclones and their rainfall, the origin of the moisture in these storms, which include destructive hurricanes and typhoons, remains surprisingly uncertain. Existing studies have focused on the region 40–400 km from a cyclone's center. It is known that the rainfall within this area cannot be explained by local processes alone but requires imported moisture. Nonetheless, the dynamics of this imported moisture appears unknown. Here, considering a region up to three thousand kilometers from cyclone center, we analyze precipitation, atmospheric moisture and movement velocities for severe tropical cyclones – North Atlantic hurricanes. Our findings indicate that even over such large areas a hurricane's rainfall cannot be accounted for by concurrent evaporation. We propose instead that a hurricane consumes pre-existing atmospheric water vapor as it moves. The propagation velocity of the cyclone, i.e. the difference between its movement velocity and the mean velocity of the surrounding air (steering flow), determines the water vapor budget. Water vapor available to the hurricane through its movement makes the hurricane self-sufficient at about 700 km from the hurricane center obviating the need to concentrate moisture from greater distances. Such hurricanes leave a dry wake, whereby rainfall is suppressed by up to 40% compared to the local long-term mean. The inner radius of this dry footprint approximately coincides with the hurricane's radius of water self-sufficiency. We discuss how Carnot efficiency considerations do not constrain the power of such open systems. Our findings emphasize the incompletely understood role and importance of atmospheric moisture stocks and dynamics in the behavior of severe tropical cyclones. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Makarieva, Anastassia M. Gorshkov, Victor G. Nefiodov, Andrei V. Chikunov, Alexander V. Sheil, Douglas Nobre, Antonio Donato Li, Bai Lian |
author_facet |
Makarieva, Anastassia M. Gorshkov, Victor G. Nefiodov, Andrei V. Chikunov, Alexander V. Sheil, Douglas Nobre, Antonio Donato Li, Bai Lian |
author_sort |
Makarieva, Anastassia M. |
title |
Fuel for cyclones: The water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement |
title_short |
Fuel for cyclones: The water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement |
title_full |
Fuel for cyclones: The water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement |
title_fullStr |
Fuel for cyclones: The water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fuel for cyclones: The water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement |
title_sort |
fuel for cyclones: the water vapor budget of a hurricane as dependent on its movement |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/fuel-for-cyclones-the-water-vapor-budget-of-a-hurricane-as-depend https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.04.006 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Atmospheric Research 193 (2017) ISSN: 0169-8095 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/542704 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/fuel-for-cyclones-the-water-vapor-budget-of-a-hurricane-as-depend doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.04.006 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess (c) publisher Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.04.006 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Research |
container_volume |
193 |
container_start_page |
216 |
op_container_end_page |
230 |
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1788063596336381952 |