Viscous Dissipation of Turbulence Kinetic Energy in Storms

Abstract

In this note the magnitude of the viscous dissipation of turbulence kinetic energy in the surface layer of storms is investigated. It is shown that the layer-integrated dissipative heating is a cubic function of the wind speed. The magnitude of the estimated heating at higher wind speeds confirms the importance to storm evolution of this term in the turbulence kinetic energy equation and suggests that dissipative energy should be included in numerical weather prediction models, particularly in models that resolve mesoscale structures in storms. A general discussion of the implications of the results for the energetics of a range of storm systems is provided.