Abstract
The variation of Tropical cyclone azimuthal wind speed (V) with distance
from storm center (r) is a fundamental aspect of storm structure that
has important implications for risk and damages. The theoretical model
of Emanuel (2004), which applies well outside the rainy core of the
storm, matches radiatively-driven subsidence and Ekman suction rates at
the top of the boundary layer to obtain a nonlinear differential
equation for dV/dr. This model is particularly appealing because of its
strong physical foundation, but has no known analytic solution for V(r).
In this paper, I obtain an analytic solution to V(r) for the Emanuel
(2004) outer wind model. Following previous work, I then use this
solution to explore properties of merged wind models that combine the
outer model with an inner model that applies to the rainy core of a
storm.