The Balanced Wind, Mass and Potential Vorticity Structure of Warm-Ring Tropical Cyclones

In general, tropical cyclones typically exhibit a warm-core structure; that is, the largest temperature anomalies occur at the center of the vortex. Studies show that on more than one occasion, large temperature anomalies can occur on the inner edge of the eyewall. This warm-ring structure is observed in the lower troposphere of strong tropical cyclones. The presence of a warm-ring structure relates the existence of a hub-cloud in the center of the eye, cascading pileus in the upper troposphere at the edge of the eye and a clear inner moat in the lower troposphere of the outer edge of the eye, all of which are associated with strong inertial stability in an eye of relatively large radius. In an attempt to replicate the warm-ring structure, a balanced vortex model is used to show the structures of the tangential wind, temperature anomalies, absolute angular momentum, potential temperature and potential vorticity of a tropical cyclone with an outward tilting radius of maximum wind with a U-shaped wind profile. A warm-ring temperature structure is generated using dry dynamics for a reasonably strong tropical cyclone in thermal wind balance. This indicates that modeling the warm-ring structure is possible, and with reasonable parameters.