What we saw with Isabel is the breakdown of the eyewall into a number of mesovortices. They are pretty cool to watch, but not exactly the easiest things to model or understand dynamically.
Essentially, when the system gets wrapped up too tightly, the eyewall can breakdown into these vortices. Essentially, the eyewall is a sheet of what we call vorticity -- cyclonic spin. If the conditions are right, as they sometimes are with very intense storms, the eyewall can become barotropically unstable (what that exactly means is a matter which could take awhile to explain due to the math, but focus on the unstable part), leading to its spin-up into a number of vortices. This is where the mesovortices seen with Isabel arose from.
crap... another reason I can't walk around in the eye. I have never seen great footage that isnt overexposed from sunlight of the eyewall from the ground. I was hoping to get some myself. Thanks.
0 registered and 730 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator:
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
Rating:
Thread views: 65185
Note: This is NOT an official page. It is run by weather hobbyists and should not be used as a replacement for official sources.
CFHC's main servers are currently located at Hostdime.com in Orlando, FL.
Image Server Network thanks to Mike Potts and Amazon Web Services. If you have static file hosting space that allows dns aliasing contact us to help out! Some Maps Provided by:
Great thanks to all who donated and everyone who uses the site as well.
Site designed for 800x600+ resolution
When in doubt, take the word of the National Hurricane Center