Hurricane Maximum Intensity: Past and Present

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Hurricane intensity forecasting has lagged far behind the forecasting of hurricane track. In an effort to improve the understanding of the hurricane intensity dilemma, several attempts have been made to compute an upper bound on the intensity of tropical cyclones. This paper investigates the strides made into determining the maximum intensity of hurricanes. Concentrating on the most recent attempts to understand the maximum intensity problem, the theories of Holland and Emanuel are reviewed with the objective of assessing their validity in real tropical cyclones. Each theory is then tested using both observations and the axisymmetric hurricane numerical models of Ooyama and Emanuel. It is found that ambient convective instability plays a minor role in the determination of the maximum intensity and that the Emanuel model is the closest to providing a useful calculation of maximum intensity. Several shortcomings are revealed in Emanuel’s theory, however, showing the need for more basic research on the axisymmetric and asymmetric dynamics of hurricanes. As an illustration of the importance of asymmetric vorticity dynamics in the determination of a hurricane’s maximum intensity it is shown, using Ooyama’s hurricane model, that the maximum intensity of a tropical cyclone may be diminished by convectively generated vorticity anomolies excited outside the primary eyewall. The vorticity anomolies are parameterized by adding a concentric ring of vorticity outside the primary eyewall that acts to cut off its supply of angular momentum and moist enthalpy. It is suggested that the generation of vorticity rings (or bands) outside the primary eyewall is a major reason why tropical cyclones fail to attain their maximum intensity even in an otherwise favorable environment. The upshot of this work points to the need for obtaining a more complete understanding of asymmetric vorticity processes in hurricanes and their coupling to the boundary layer and convection.