The environmental influence on tropical cyclone precipitation

Abstract

The intensity, spatial, and temporal changes in precipitation were examined in three North Atlantic hurricanes during 1989 (Dean, Gabrielle, and Hugo) using precipitation estimates made from Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) measurements. In addition, analyses from a barotropic hurricane forecast model and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast model were used to examine the relationship between the evolution of the precipitation in these tropical cyclones and external forcing. The external forcing parameters examined were: 1) mean climatological sea surface temperatures, 2) vertical wind shear, 3) environmental tropospheric water vapor flux, and 4) upper-tropospheric eddy relative angular momentum flux convergence. -from Authors