EAPS 10200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Adiabatic Process
31 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
Warm moist surface air is drawn into the center of the hurricane and as it approaches the center it picks up considerable speed. Near the center the air turns upward following the steep pressure gradient up. This rising air creates concentric rings of towering cumulus clouds which produce intense rainfall. The inner most wall of rising air is called the eye wall with the very center called the eye. The eye wall is where the most intense activity is. In the eye however there is a brief respite from the storm. The air in the eye actually sinks and then heats by adiabatic compression, it is the warmest part of the hurricane. Hurricanes generally begin to die when the supply of energy laden water is cutoff. This most often happens when it reaches land which can no longer feed it the energy it needs.
