The Role of Rainbands on the Storm Intensity Changes

Hurricane rainbands are the most prominent feature that can be discerned from satellite and aircraft observations. Previous studies have suggested rainbands could weaken the storm intensity by serving as a barrier that intercepts the boundary layer inflow or strengthen the storm by feeding potential vorticity to the inner core. Understanding how the presence and characteristic of rainbands affect intensity change becomes an imminent and practical scientific question. In this study, Forecasts from the operational Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) based ensemble prediction system for Hurricane Edouard (2014) were analyzed to study the differences in the location and characteristics of rainbands between rapidly intensifying (RI) and non-intensifying (NI) ensemble members. The location of rainbands will be examined from the radial perspective and shear-relative and storm-motion-relative azimuthal perspective. The characteristic of rainbands will be examined from the horizontal and vertical structure of vertical motion and vorticity.