Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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To learn more about how Florida International University is revolutionizing what we know about hurricanes, visit https://FIU.edu
Why is the middle of a hurricane sometimes so clear and calm?

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Subsidence: the downward movement of an air parcel as it cools and becomes denser
- Vortex: a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line

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CREDITS
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Kate Yoshida | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Cameron Duke | Director
Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke
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Hurricane Harvey Roaring and Spinning In Gulf of Mexico 2017
Footage by: Film Master | Shutterstock

Hurricane eye over sea in satellite photo
Photo by: Viacheslav Lopatin | Shutterstock

Extreme CAT 5 major hurricane OTIS
Footage by: BroadcastNews | Shutterstock

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REFERENCES
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Houze, RA et al. (2007). Hurricane Intensity and Eyewall Replacement. Science, 315(5816), 1235–1239. doi.org/10.1126/science.1135650

Schubert WH et al. (2007). On the distribution of subsidence in the hurricane eye. , 133(624), 595–605. doi.org/10.1002/qj.49

Shen, W (2006). Does the size of hurricane eye matter with its intensity?. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(18). doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027313

Smith, RK (1980) Tropical cyclone eye dynamics. Journal of Atmospheric Science 37: 1227-1232. doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1980)037%3C1227:TCED%3E2.0.CO;2

Willoughby HE (1998). Tropical cyclone eye thermodynamics. Monthly Weather Review, 126(12), 3053-3067. journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/mwre/126/12/1520-0493_1998_126_3053_tcet_2.0.co_2.xml