Wind shear

About: Wind shear is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8023 publications have been published within this topic receiving 185373 citations.

A Statistical Forecast Model for Atlantic Seasonal Hurricane Activity Based on the NCEP Dynamical Seasonal Forecast

Abstract: A hybrid dynamical–statistical model is developed for predicting Atlantic seasonal hurricane activity. The model is built upon the empirical relationship between the observed interannual variability of hurricanes and the variability of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and vertical wind shear in 26-yr (1981–2006) hindcasts from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Climate Forecast System (CFS). The number of Atlantic hurricanes exhibits large year-to-year fluctuations and an upward trend over the 26 yr. The latter is characterized by an inactive period prior to 1995 and an active period afterward. The interannual variability of the Atlantic hurricanes significantly correlates with the CFS hindcasts for August–October (ASO) SSTs and vertical wind shear in the tropical Pacific and tropical North Atlantic where CFS also displays skillful forecasts for the two variables. In contrast, the hurricane trend shows less of a correlation to the CFS-predicted SSTs and vertical wind shear in...

The Impact of Outflow Environment on Tropical Cyclone Intensification and Structure

Abstract: In this study, the impacts of regions of weak inertial stability on tropical cyclone intensification and peak strength are examined. It is demonstrated that weak inertial stability in the outflow layer minimizes an energy sink of the tropical cyclone secondary circulation and leads to more rapid intensification to the maximum potential intensity. Using a full-physics, three-dimensional numerical weather prediction model, a symmetric distribution of environmental inertial stability is generated using a variable Coriolis parameter. It is found that the lower the value of the Coriolis parameter, the more rapid the strengthening. The lower-latitude simulation is shown to have a significantly stronger secondary circulation with intense divergent outflow against a comparatively weak environmental resistance. However, the impacts of differences in the gradient wind balance between the different latitudes on the core structure cannot be neglected. A second study is then conducted using an asymmetric iner...

Investigating wind turbine impacts on near-wake flow using profiling lidar data and large-eddy simulations with an actuator disk model

Abstract: Wind turbine impacts on the atmospheric flow are investigated using data from the Crop Wind Energy Experiment (CWEX-11) and large-eddy simulations (LESs) utilizing a generalized actuator disk (GAD) wind turbine model. CWEX-11 employed velocity-azimuth display (VAD) data from two Doppler lidar systems to sample vertical profiles of flow parameters across the rotor depth both upstream and in the wake of an operating 1.5 MW wind turbine. Lidar and surface observations obtained during four days of July 2011 are analyzed to characterize the turbine impacts on wind speed and flow variability, and to examine the sensitivity of these changes to atmospheric stability. Significant velocity deficits ( VD) are observed at the downstream location during both convective and stable portions of four diurnal cycles, with large, sustained deficits occurring during stable conditions. Variances of the streamwise velocity component, σu, likewise show large increases downstream during both stable and unstable conditions, with ...