Plate 38

Plate 38. Horizontal radar slices through Hurricane Erin, showing how the circulation of the storm weakens with increasing height above the ground (the altitude of each radar slice is shown on the left side of the figure). It is the weakening circulation with increasing altitude that causes the "stadium effect" in the eye-structure of hurricanes. The perfectly circular area of black to the right of the eye is associated with the radar's inability to see precipitation in that region and is not related to the "stadium effect" (courtesy of NOAA).