Home | About Us | Contacts | Help | Feedback | SEARCH Global | Australia | NSW | Vic. | Qld | WA | SA | Tas. | ACT | NT | Ant. | Weather & Warnings | Hydrology | Climate | Numerical Prediction | About Services | Learn About Meteorology | Registered User Services |

Global Guide
Main Menu

Global Guide to Tropical Cyclone Forecasting: CHAPTER 4: THE HABITATION LAYER

4.1 INTRODUCTION

The term "habitation layer" was coined by Bob Simpson (Simpson and Riehl, 1981) to describe the thin layer of the atmosphere in which we live. In this region, the atmosphere is interacting with the underlying surface, with resulting quite complex winds that are gusty, suffer large perturbations around local obstructions, and may contain microbursts and downbursts. The interaction between ocean and atmosphere also occurs in this region, with resultant generation of very high wind waves and coastal storm surges.

In this chapter, we indicate the mechanisms involved in generating storm surge (Section 4.2) and wind waves (Section 4.3), and provide forecast guidelines. We also examine the wind-field changes that occur as a tropical cyclone makes landfall (Section 4.4).

Contents Chapter 4.2