A New Parametric Tropical Cyclone Pressure-Wind Profile Model

A new parametric tropical cyclone pressure-wind profile model is presented for depicting accurate surface pressure profiles corresponding to the complex tropical cyclone wind profiles that exhibit single- and dual-maximum concentric-eyewall tangential wind peaks. The model employs the five key parameters per profile: maximum tangential velocity, radius of maximum tangential wind, and three shape parameters that independently control different portions of the velocity profile. Furthermore, the model uses a cyclostrophic-balance wind equation to employ a partitioning of the total surface pressures into separate components of pressures that correspond to a primary and secondary tangential wind profiles corresponding to the inner and outer complete rings of enhanced radar reflectivity. A gradient wind then is computed from cyclostrophic wind. The partitioning scheme aids investigators to quantitatively evaluate the significant fluctuations in central surface pressure deficits and gradient wind maxima during an eye replacement cycle.

Simulation results indicate that the parametric pressure-wind profile model is capable of reproducing the realistic-looking gradient wind and surface pressure profiles that match the radial profiles of aircraft flight-level tangential winds and surface pressures or geopotential heights in various stages of tropical cyclone development from hurricanes with single-maximum wind profiles to major hurricanes with dual-maximum wind profiles.