On steady-state tropical cyclones

We examine the physical constraints that must be satisfied to allow for a steady-state tropical cyclone in an isolated environment, paying particular attention to the need to replenish absolute angular momentum exactly at the rate that it is consumed and to the vanishing of the spin-up function above the frictional boundary layer. We conclude that it is unlikely that these conditions will be met simultaneously and question whether globally steady-state tropical cyclone solutions have merit. The implications for previous studies are discussed.