The Shear-Relative Variation of Inflow Angle and Its Relationship to Tropical Cyclone Intensification

Characterizing inflow structure is important to better represent tropical cyclone impacts in numerical models. While much research has considered the impact of storm translation on the distribution of inflow angle, comparatively less research has examined its distribution relative to the environmental wind shear. This study analyzes data from 3,655 dropsondes in 44 storms to investigate the radial and shear-relative distribution of surface inflow angle. Emphasis is placed on its relationship with intensity change. The results show that the radial variation in the inflow angle is small and not significantly dependent on the shear magnitude or intensity change rate. In contrast, the azimuthal distribution of the inflow angle shows a significant asymmetry, with the amplitude of the asymmetry increasing with shear magnitude. The maximum inflow angle is located in the downshear side. The degree of asymmetry is larger in the outer core than in the eyewall. Intensifying storms have a smaller degree of asymmetry than steady-state storms under moderate shear.