Tropical stuff
Idealized Tropical Cyclones
CM1 background wind profile generator and visualizer (GrADS)
A script that produces up to 20 custom background momentum profiles for nudging in Cloud Model 1 (CM1). Current capabilities are limited, with key options including vertical shear-layer and steering-layer specification. Background shear is confined to a specified layer, and uniform profiles of u and v exist outside the shear layer. The change of u and/or v with height within the shear layer is sinusoidal, and any added momentum within the steering layer by the shear specification is offset by a secondary waveform (i.e., the shear does not directly add a steering-layer mean component). Uses default thermodynamic and mass profiles. See notes in this document.
Peer-reviewed Publications
Ahern, K., R. E. Hart, and M. A. Bourassa (2022): Asymmetric hurricane boundary layer structure during storm decay. Part II: Secondary eyewall formation. Mon. Wea. Rev., 150 (8), 1915–1936, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-21-0247.1
Ahern, K., R. E. Hart, and M. A. Bourassa (2021): Asymmetric hurricane boundary layer structure during storm decay. Part I: Formation of descending inflow. Mon. Wea. Rev., 149 (11), 3851–3874, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-21-0030.1.
Ahern, K., M. A. Bourassa, R. E. Hart, J. A. Zhang, and R. F. Rogers (2019): Observed kinematic and thermodynamic structure in the hurricane boundary layer during intensity change. Mon. Wea. Rev., 147 (8), 2765–2785, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-18-0380.1.
Ahern, K. and L. Cowan (2018): Minimizing errors when projecting geospatial data onto a vortex-centered space. Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, doi:10.1029/2018GL079953.