The clear eye and tall spiral cloud walls of Hurricane Isabel, photographed from the ISS.

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Preparing the 3D view

Preparing lighting and the first complete frame…

Model scale

Cloud height ×5. max-wind radius 30 km. ocean domain radius 300 km.

Maximum tangential wind 62.0 m/s · ideal centre 966 hPa. Northern: anticlockwise viewed from above.

How to read these results

Slice opens the structure. Cloud fragments and tracers follow two hours of a steady ideal vortex; arrows illustrate inflow, ascent and outflow. No intensity evolution, rainfall, track or landfall forecast.

Tropical cyclone

Identify the eye, eyewall and rainbands of a tropical cyclone and explain how warm ocean water supports its circulation.

Drag to rotate. Hold Ctrl and scroll to zoom, or pinch on a touch screen.

Why it happens

A tropical cyclone draws moist air inward near the surface, with strong ascent in the eyewall and outflow aloft. Its eye has weaker winds and often descending air, distinct from a tornado funnel.

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Astronaut Ed Lu photographed Hurricane Isabel on 13 September 2003. The eye is surrounded by the eyewall's deep convective clouds.

Try a comparison

Read the wind profile and its 30 km maximum. Change Intensity; explain why the pressure is model-dependent.

Reading the result

The ideal vortex links wind and pressure through stated assumptions; it does not calculate storm development, rainfall or a track.

A common misunderstanding

The calm eye means a tropical cyclone has passed and the danger is over.

The eye is surrounded by the eyewall, where winds and convection are strong. If the eye crosses a location, the opposite eyewall may arrive after a temporary lull, with a changed wind direction. Rainfall, flooding and coastal water levels can also remain hazardous beyond the strongest winds.

Cases

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