Comments on "An evaluation of hurricane superintensity in axisymmetric numerical models" by Rapha\"el Rousseau-Rizzi and Kerry Emanuel

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 77: 3971 (2020) In a recent paper Rousseau-Rizzi and Emanuel (2019) presented a derivation of an upper limit on maximum hurricane velocity at the surface. This derivation was based on a consideration of an infinitely narrow (differential) Carnot cycle with the war...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors Makarieva, Anastassia M, Nefiodov, Andrei V, Sheil, Douglas, Nobre, Antonio Donato, Chikunov, Alexander V, Plunien, Günter, Li, Bai-Lian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 23.05.2020
Subjects
Physics - Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Physics - Fluid Dynamics
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Summary:Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 77: 3971 (2020) In a recent paper Rousseau-Rizzi and Emanuel (2019) presented a derivation of an upper limit on maximum hurricane velocity at the surface. This derivation was based on a consideration of an infinitely narrow (differential) Carnot cycle with the warmer isotherm at the point of the maximum wind velocity. Here we show that this derivation neglected a significant term describing the kinetic energy change in the outflow. Additionally, we highlight the importance of a proper accounting for the power needed to lift liquid water. Finally, we provide a revision to the formula for surface fluxes of heat and momentum showing that, if we accept the assumptions adopted by Rousseau-Rizzi and Emanuel (2019), the resulting velocity estimate does not depend on the flux of sensible heat.
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2005.11522