A Method for Diagnosing the Secondary Circulation with Saturated Moist Entropy Structure in a Mature Tropical Cyclone

Under the adiabatic, axisymmetric and steady assumption, a relationship between the saturated moist entropy structure and the secondary circulation in a tropical cyclone (TC) is derived from the continuity equation. It is found that the isentropic surfaces coincide with the streamlines, and the streamfunction can be expressed with saturated moist entropy. The secondary circulation and the saturated moist entropy structure depend on each other. Thus, a method for diagnosing the secondary circulation with the structure of saturated moist entropy is proposed. The method is verified with a simulated intense idealized TC with a highly axisymmetric structure. The diagnosed secondary circulation reproduces well the moist inflow in the boundary layer and the moist updraft in the eyewall. This method facilitates secondary circulation diagnosis in theoretical or mature TCs that satisfy the adiabatic, axisymmetric and steady approximations.