Hurricane Eyewall Replacement Cycle Thermodynamics and the Relict Inner Eyewall Circulation

Abstract Flight-level aircraft data are used to examine inner-core thermodynamic changes during eyewall replacement cycles (ERCs) and the role of the relict inner eyewall circulation on the evolution of a hurricane during and following an ERC. Near the end of an ERC, the eye comprises two thermodynamically and kinematically distinct air masses separated by a relict wind maximum, inside of which high inertial stability restricts radial motion creating a “containment vessel” that confines the old-eye air mass. Restricted radial flow aloft also reduces subsidence within this confined region. Subsidence-induced warming is thus focused along the outer periphery of the developing post-ERC eye, which leads to a flattening of the pressure profile within the eye and a steepening of the gradient at the eyewall. This then causes a local intensification of the winds in the eyewall. The cessation of active convection and subsidence near the storm center, which has been occurring over the course of the ERC, leads to an increase in minimum pressure. The increase in minimum pressure concurrent with the increase of winds in the developing eyewall can create a highly anomalous pressure–wind relationship. When the relict inner eyewall circulation dissipates, the air masses are free to mix and subsidence can resume more uniformly over the entire eye.