Fluid Mechanics of Tropical Cyclones

Abstract:

Typhoons in the northwest Pacific and hurricanes in the northeast Atlantic are particular instances of a global phenomenon with frequently disastrous consequences known as the Tropical Cyclone (TC). This is an intense cyclone, generated over a tropical ocean with kinetic energy 10¹⁸ J or more, which extends over several hundred kilometres and yet is above all characterized by its calm central region: “the eye of the storm”. In a TC (not, of course, to be confused with such completely different phenomena as tornadoes) both the energy input and its dissipation mainly occur within that boundary layer between air and ocean which, at high TC wind speeds of 50–60 m/s, comprises essentially “a third fluid”: ocean spray. Afterwards, as a TC reaches land, disastrous effects of several different kinds may occur, and this paper outlines how fluid mechanics contributes towards worldwide struggles to reduce the human impact of TC disasters.