On the Transverse Circulation of the Hurricane

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This paper uses extensive aircraft, composited rawinsonde data, and an idealized hurricane structure model to analyze the physical processes that maintain the transverse circulation of the steady-state hurricane. It is shown that convective available potential energy (CAPE) or processes other than frictional forcing plays an important role in maintaining the hurricane’s inner-core (radius < 60 km) in-up-and-out radial circulation. But this is not true at outer radii (60–250 km or 250–700 km) where surface friction forcing is dominant and larger than the resulting upward vertical motion.