wrote:
Barb Beier
On Sat, 13 Sep 2003 03:34:15 GMT, Jim wrote:

This is Isabel Friday morning. Note the multiple votices.
http://home.alltel.net/jk73946/Graph...15Z_Isabel.gif

What an impressive image! This is probably an extremely dumb question
by a layperson, but after seeing this I've got to ask: why are there
vortices in the eye? I thought that was supposed to always be clear.

At that time there were two eyewalls, an inner eyewall and the larger
outer eyewall. The inner eyewall and the outer eyewall were rotating
at different speeds. The vortices apparantly formed and acted like
like roller bearings between the two core walls.


This is incorrect (those vortices would not be visible as they'd be
underneath the "doughnut" od the CDO); the vortices being referred to
are eddy patterns between strong eyewall winds and a calm center,
visible in the low cumulus of the eye itself. Yesterday there were five
of them in a starfish pattern; today there are four.

I believe these eye vortices are a manifestation similar to those in
multi-vortex tornados: There is a maximum rate at which a single vortex
can process air, so if atmospheric conditions enable the formation of a
storm more powerful than a single one can "service", the storm will
develop several rotating around a common center.

--

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