The comparative effects of frictional convergence and vertical wind shear on the interior asymmetries of a tropical cyclone

A minimal three-dimensional hurricane model formulated on an f-plane is used to investigate the asymmetries that develop when a model storm is subjected to ambient vertical wind shear. The asymmetries that form in the moist version of the model have a different structure to those that form in a dry version. In the moist case, there are two competing factors that influence the inner-core asymmetries: vertical wind shear and frictional convergence in the boundary layer. We show that the relative importance of these factors is different in the different stages of vortex evolution and different also in the core region compared with the outer region of the vortex. In the developing stage, the patterns of vertical velocity and temperature deviation above the boundary layer are primarily determined by the shear. When saturation occurs in the core region, the vortex rapidly intensifies and the upper and lower portions of the vortex become strongly coupled so that there is little tilt of the core region. In the mature stage, ascent associated with frictional convergence in the core tends to dominate the vertical motion field induced by the shear, but there are individual times when the patterns of ascent at the top of the boundary layer and at the upper level differ significantly. These times coincide mostly with fluctuations in the vortex track, which, in turn, must be influenced by asymmetries in the horizontal flow in the vortex. Even though the inner core of the vortex becomes upright with the onset of deep moist convection, the outer regions continue to have a significant tilt. Outside the core region, the asymmetries in the pattern of vertical motion above the boundary layer are associated primarily with the tilt of the outer vortex.