The Theory of Hurricanes

The hurricane remains one of the outstanding enigmas of fluid dynamics. This is so, in part, because the phenomenon is comparatively difficult to observe and because no laboratory analogue has been discovered. To this it must be added that hurricanes have received surprisingly little attention from the theoretically inclined fluid dynamicist, perhaps owing to an understandable tendency to avoid problems that involve complex thermodynamics and lack laboratory analogues. Yet hurricanes involve a rich spectrum of fluid-dynamical processes, including rotating, stratified flow dynamics, boundary layers, convection, and air-sea interaction; as such, they provide a wealth of interesting and consequential research problems. This article reviews recent developments in the theory of hurricanes and delineates the important remaining scientific challenges.