Estimation of Near Surface Wind Speeds in Strongly Rotating Flows

Abstract Modeling studies consistently demonstrate that the most violent winds in tornadic vortices occur in the lowest tens of meters above the surface. These velocities are unobservable by radar platforms due to line of sight considerations. In this work, a methodology is developed which utilizes parametric tangential velocity models derived from Doppler radar measurements, together with a tangential momentum and mass continuity constraint, to estimate the radial and vertical velocities in a steady axisymmetric frame. The main result is that information from observations aloft can be extrapolated into the surface layer of the vortex. The impact of the amount of information available to the retrieval is demonstrated through some numerical tests with pseudo-data.