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GCSE Geography · key term
The ring of towering thunderclouds surrounding a tropical cyclone's eye, containing its strongest winds and heaviest rainfall.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Specification 3.1.1.3 · Paper 1
Revise: Tropical Storms: Formation, Structure and Climate ChangeAround it is the eyewall, a ring of towering cumulonimbus clouds where air rises vigorously. This contains the strongest winds and most intense rainfall. Further out, curved bands of cloud and thunderstorms spiral around the centre.
Specification 2.5 · Paper 1
The ring of towering thunderclouds around a tropical cyclone's eye, containing its strongest winds and most intense rainfall.
Distinguish the calm eye from the eyewall, where the strongest winds and heaviest rain occur.
Keep pressure and wind speed distinct: the lowest surface pressure is in the eye, but the strongest winds are in the eyewall.
For a structure diagram, label the eye, eyewall and spiral rainbands, then add the associated weather and directions of air movement.
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Strong uplift forms an eyewall around the centre, while air spreads outwards high above the storm. In a mature cyclone, some air sinks in the centre, forming the relatively calm eye.
Paper 1
The ring of towering storm clouds surrounding a tropical cyclone's eye, where the strongest surface winds and torrential rainfall occur.
Revise: Physical Characteristics and Structure of Tropical CyclonesThe eyewall surrounds the eye. It is a ring of towering storm clouds where air rises strongly. Rising moist air cools and water vapour condenses, forming clouds and heavy rainfall.
Specification 1.1a · Paper 1, Paper 3
The ring of towering storm clouds surrounding a tropical storm's eye, where its strongest winds and heaviest rainfall occur.
Revise: Causes of Tropical Storms and El Niño/La NiñaThe strongest winds and heaviest rainfall occur in the eyewall, a ring of deep clouds and rapidly rising air around the centre. Inside it is the eye, where air sinks, limiting cloud formation. The eye is relatively calm and often dry, despite lying at the centre of an intense low-pressure system.