Date of Award

1-1-2021

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (xx, 299 pages) : color illustrations, color maps.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Kristen L Corbosiero

Committee Members

Brian H Tang, Robert G Fovell, Ryan D Torn

Keywords

Convection, Planetary boundary layer, Tropical cyclone tornadoes, Tropical cyclones, Hurricane Harvey, 2017, Hurricane Irma, 2017, Convection (Meteorology), Boundary layer (Meteorology), Wind shear, Cyclones

Subject Categories

Atmospheric Sciences

Abstract

Tropical cyclones (TCs) pose a significant threat to life and property, and exhibit many severe weather hazards as they make landfall, such as storm surge, strong winds, flooding rains, and tornadoes. TC convection is associated with nearly all of these hazards, which can extend hundreds of kilometers inland; thus, understanding the characteristics and organization of convective cells is important to mitigating risk. Observational studies have noted that TC convection tends to organize downshear and that rotating thunderstorms tend to occur in the downshear-right quadrant of the TC. Modeling studies have also shown that convective cells tend to form upshear right and mature as the traverse cyclonically around the TC. Rotating thunderstorms in TCs are strongly influenced by the low-level helicity and convective available potential energy (CAPE), which have been highlighted in numerous modeling and observational studies. The distribution and magnitude of low-level helicity and CAPE can be strongly influenced by planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterizations in numerical weather prediction, motivating this research.

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