Dynamic Instabilities of Simulated Hurricane-like Vortices and Their Impacts on the Core Structure of Hurricanes. Part I: Dry Experiments

Abstract

Abstract A series of numerical simulations of dry, axisymmetric hurricane-like vortices is performed to examine the growth of barotropic and baroclinic eddies and their potential impacts on hurricane core structure and intensity. The numerical experiments are performed using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) with a 6-km horizontal grid. To examine internal effects on the stability of vortices, all external forcings are eliminated. Axisymmetric vortices that resemble observed hurricane structures are constructed on an f plane, and the experiments are performed without moist and boundary layer processes. Three vortices are designed for this study. A balanced control vortex is built based on the results of a full-physics simulation of Hurricane Floyd (1999). Then, two other axisymmetric vortices, EXP-1 and EXP-2, are constructed by modifying the wind and mass fields of the control vortex. The EXP-1 vortex is designed to satisfy the necessary condition of baroclinic instability, while the EXP-2 vortex satisfies the necessary condition of barotropic instability. These modified vortices are thought to lie within the natural range of structural variability of hurricanes. The EXP-1 and EXP-2 vortices are found to be unstable with respect to small imposed perturbations, while the control vortex is stable. Small perturbations added to the EXP-1 and EXP-2 vortices grow exponentially at the expense of available potential energy and kinetic energy of the primary vortex, respectively. The most unstable normal modes of both vortices are obtained via a numerical method. The most unstable mode of the EXP-1 (baroclinically unstable) vortex vertically tilts against shear, and the maximum growth occurs near a height of 14 km and a radius of 20 km. On the other hand, the most unstable normal mode of the EXP-2 (barotropically unstable) vortex has horizontal tilting against the mean angular velocity shear, and the maximum perturbations are located at a lower altitude (around 4 km) and at larger radius (around 100 km). Despite these differences, the normal modes of both vortices have a wavenumber-1 structure. The energy budget analysis shows that the growing baroclinic and barotropic perturbations have opposite effects on the vortex intensity in terms of kinetic energy. Baroclinic eddies strengthen, whereas barotropic eddies weaken, the primary vortex. It is hypothesized that fluctuations in hurricane core structure and intensity can occur due to eddy processes triggered by alternating periods of barotropic and baroclinic eddy growth in the core. Once formed, these eddies may interact with the intense diabatic energy sources in real hurricanes. A similar study of eddy behaviors in a more realistic hurricane, which includes moist and boundary layer processes and uses a finer grid mesh, will be the topic of Part II.