A Dynamically Constrained Method for Determining the Vortex Centers of Tropical Cyclones Predicted by High-Resolution Models

This paper proposes a new method to properly define and accurately determine the vortex center of a model-predicted tropical cyclone (TC) from a dynamic perspective. Ideally, a dynamically determined TC vortex center should maximize the gradient wind balance or, equivalently, minimize the gradient wind imbalance measured by an energy norm over the TC vortex. In practice, however, such an energy norm cannot be used to easily and unambiguously determine the TC vortex center. An alternative yet practical approach is developed to dynamically and unambiguously define the TC vortex center. In this approach, the TC vortex core of near-solid-body rotation is modeled by a simple parametric vortex constrained by the gradient wind balance. Therefore, the modeled vortex can fit simultaneously the perturbation pressure and streamfunction of the TC vortex part (extracted from the model-predicted fields) over the TC vortex core area (within the radius of maximum tangential wind), while the misfit is measured by a properly defined cost function. Minimizing this cost function yields the desired dynamic optimality condition that can uniquely define the TC vortex center. Using this dynamic optimality condition, a new method is developed in the form of iterative least squares fit to accurately determine the TC vortex center. The new method is shown to be efficient and effective for finding the TC vortex center that accurately satisfies the dynamic optimality condition.