Hurricane Georges's Landfall in the Dominican Republic: Detailed Airborne Doppler Radar Imagery
Abstract Current understanding of landfalling tropical cyclones is limited, especially with regard to convective–scale pro–cesses. On 22 September 1998 Hurricane Georges made landfall on the island of Hispaniola, leaving behind a trail of death and devastation, largely the result of excessive rainfall, not storm surge or wind. Detailed airborne measurements were taken as part of the Third Convection and Moisture Experiment. Of particular interest are the ER–2 nadir X–band Doppler radar data, which provide a first–time, high–resolution view of the precipitation and airflow changes as a hurricane interacts with mountainous terrain. The circulation of Hurricane Georges obviously declined during landfall, evident in the rapid increase in minimum sea level pressure, the subsidence of the eyewall anvil, and the decrease in average ice concentrations in the eyewall. The eye, as seen in satellite imagery, disappeared as deep convection erupted within the eye. The main convective event within the eye, with upper–l...