Parametric study of hurricanes intensity as they move over land

Abstract

Two of the most important tropical cyclone parameters, which are used as a measure of their intensity, are the maximum surface wind speed (local parameter) and the pressure difference between the free atmosphere and the pressure in the center of the storm (global parameter). In this paper we reexamined the relationship between these parameters via the Euler number, which is a nondimensional parameter that relates the overall pressure difference to the dynamic pressure generated by the maximum value of the wind speed. The calculations were performed all along the track of 20 tropical cyclones using the National Hurricane Center’s extended best track database for the Atlantic basin. It was found that when the cyclone is over water, the Euler number tends to remain constant, while over land the parameter varies drastically with a tendency to grow. These results confirm that over sea, when they have reached hurricane strength, tropical cyclones evolve slowly remaining near the steady state, highlighting the importance of transient states during strong dissipation. The Euler number seems to be independent of the global warming.