Hurricane Hot Towers

From Wiki “A hot tower is a tropical cumulonimbus cloud that penetrates the tropopause, i.e. it reaches out of the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, into the stratosphere. In the tropics, the tropopause typically lies at least 15 km above sea level. These towers are called “hot” because they rise high due to the large amount of latent heat released as water vapor condenses into liquid.”

In other words, a cloud of rapid and extreme vertical development fueled by a) warm tropical waters which lead to the release of large quantities of latent hit and additional buoyant forces and b) wind shear caused by differences in wind speed outside of and inside a hurricane’s eyewall. According to NASA the probability that a hurricane will intensify within a few hours doubles when Hot Towers are found. These clouds extend far above the normal limitations of commercial aircraft and the stability of the stratosphere causes the rising air to spread out (similar to anvil tops in severe thunderstorms). It acts as a cap or lid of sorts though I suppose some of the rising air might make it into the tropopause and even stratosphere as the wiki entry claimed. This may be possible due to the simple fact that the rising air has upward momentum but it shouldn’t rupture too far into the tropopause or stratosphere granted isothermal conditions in the tropopause and increasing temperatures with height in the stratosphere. It would take extremely strong updrafts to accomplish this feet.

NASA has a gigantic multimedia section of the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) which is a joint effort by the United States and Japan in studying tropical weather. The official TRMM homepage is here but most viewers will enjoy the multimedia section mentioned above much better.

Video explanation of hot towers...

A few images and movies of hot towers.....

Hurricane Wilma Hot Towers Hurricane Wilma Hot Towers Video via TRMM, NASA

 

Hurricane Rita Hot Towers Hurricane Rita Hot Towers Video via TRMM, NASA

 

Katrina Hot Towers Hurricane Katrina Hot Towers Video via TRMM, NASA

 

Don't forget to visit the NASA Hurricane Multimedia Page above. It has a lot of great content.

 

VincentSapone.com