**Evaluation of Buoyant Motions within the Hurricane Inner Core

Flight-level data from the inner core of 27 Atlantic and East Pacific hurricanes are used to examine parcel buoyancy in updraft and downdraft cores. Prior to analysis, instrument wetting errors are removed from the thermodynamic profiles and the cores are objectively separated into eyewall and rainband regions. Several definitions of the parcel's environment are used to examine current theories and represent extreme baroclinic structure near the eyewall.

Current theories that address the magnitude and forcing of vertical motions within hurricanes will be reviewed. Observed vertical motions are shown to exceed most theoretical predictions, and may be a result of buoyant accelerations. Results indicate that on average updraft cores in the eyewall and rainband regions are neutral to positively buoyant depending upon environmetal definition. The strongest and most buoyant upper draft cores (upper 25% of their respective distributions) will be further analyzed. Relationships between buoyancy magnitudes and hurricane intensity and/or intensity change will be addressed. A similar analysis will be done with downdraft cores.