Abstract
Rapid intensification is still a big topic in the meteorological field. Scientists are still researching what causes it, why it happens, and how important it is to be able to forecast it more accurately. A big motivation for this project is how we can better understand why this phenomenon occurs and how to better forecast the track and the intensity to warn the public ahead of time. For my internship, I interned at the Hurricane Research Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Laboratory (NOAA AOML). My project aimed to advance our understanding of the tropical cyclone (TC) inner-core characteristics associated with TC rapid intensification (RI) in Hurricane Ida (2021), which are notoriously challenging to accurately predict. Ida was a category 4 hurricane that went through two periods of RI. In the early stages, Ida’s vortex was misaligned probably due to the deep convective burst to the Northwest of the center and vertical wind shear. Towards the end of the study period, the vortex seemed to become more aligned. Because tail Doppler radar observations are frequently collected and transmitted to operational forecasting centers (such as the National Hurricane Center) in real-time, this project provided a foundation for future work to design forecasting aids that can be used to predict rapid intensification events more accurately. Thus, the understanding gained from this project benefited me and AOML’s ongoing efforts to provide real-time forecasting aids that utilize airborne Doppler radar observations for hurricane specialists at the National Hurricane Center.