The Roles of Geophysical Turbulence in Tropical Cyclone Dynamics, How We Model These Processes, and How Well We Do It

Geophysical turbulence plays a large role in all atmospheric processes, and tropical cyclones are certainly no exception.
In this talk I will review the turbulent phenomena that are associated with tropical cyclones on four distinct scales: the synoptic-scale atmosphere, the inner-core and eyewall, the planetary boundary layer, and the surface layer. For each case I will discuss the relevant turbulent process, how we believe they contribute to tropical cyclone dynamics and intensity change, and how they are modeled in state-of-the-art numerical simulations. While it seems that the largest scales are very well simulated, and that parameterizations of the smallest scales work surprisingly well, the intermediate scales remain challenging and are currently a significant limiter for simulating inner-core structure.