A Unified Time-Dependent Theory of Tropical Cyclone Intensification

A fundamental advancement in recent years has been the development of time-dependent theories of tropical cyclone intensification. There are two time-dependent theories: one is energetically based, and one is dynamically based. Although the two theories lead to similar mathematical forms, but some differences are apparent. In this talk, the equivalence of the two time-dependent theories will be discussed by some scaling arguments. The meanings of the respective ad-hoc parameters, namely the dynamical efficiency in the energetically based theory and the ventilation parameter in the dynamically based theory, are explained in a more physically consistent way, making the two theories in one category, which may be considered a unified time-dependent theory of tropical cyclone intensification. The potential applications of the unified theory will be briefly discussed.