August September NSF NOAA NRL NCAR UW RAINEX

August. September NSF NOAA NRL NCAR UW RAINEX Workshop, Miami, 5 -7 June 2006 UM

Workshop 5 -7 June NSF NOAA NRL NCAR UW UM

Motivation for RAINEX Understanding Rapid Intensity Changes

Intensity change problem: How do interactions of eyewalls & rainbands in the mature storm… …lead to intensity changes like these? Famous Rapidly Intensifing Storm Hurricane Opal (1995) Pressure drop rain ban d Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5 Day 1 2 3 4 5

RAINEX Flight Coordination ELDORA radar

Hurricanes investigated in RAINEX Katrina Ophelia Rita

Katrina

Katrina-28 August NRL Atlas et al. ‘ 63 stratiform downwind convective upwind

Katrina-28 August Ref Barnes et al. ‘ 83 Vel ELDORA data NRL

Katrina-28 August Confirms “Barnes” structure

Rita

RAINEX Flights in Hurricane Rita

Rita- 21 September Intensifying to Cat. 5 0ºC Eyewall

Rita- 22 September-Concentric Eyewalls

Rita- 23 September-Sheared Rogers et al. ‘ 03 Shear

Ophelia

Ophelia-9 September-Dry Midlevel Inflow A B B Ref Vel Dry air A

Data Availability

CONCLUSIONS Katrina • • Ophelia Rita RAINEX Notables: 3 hurricanes—Katrina, Ophelia, & Rita Innovative satellite-based flight control First use of ELDORA in a hurricane Data available via NCAR Field Catalog Katrina and Rita details: • • • K & R’s spiral rainbands had Atlas & Barnes structures R sampled in 3 stages: rapid int. , 2 nd eyewall, shear Echo cores in eyewalls were linear & oblique Moat region had eye-like sounding Dry air entered in subsiding mesoscale midlevel inflows

RAINEX Science Questions • How do rainbands form and evolve? • How do rainbands contribute/influence the hurricane strength and evolution? • Do the rainbands have any influence on the formation of secondary eyewall structure? If so, how? • What is the influence/impact of secondary eyewall generation on the storm intensity? • How do the concentric eyewall circulations influence overall storm intensity and structure? • How does the convective "burst" affect initial storm growth? • How do rainbands and eyewall organize in early stages of storm development? RAINEX Workshop, Miami, 5 -7 June 2006