Influence of tropical cyclones on sea surface temperature seasonal cycle and ocean heat transporT
Vincent, Emmanuel M.; Madec, Gurvan; Lengaigne, Matthieu; Vialard, Jérôme; Koch-Larrouy, Ariane. 2013 Influence of tropical cyclones on sea surface temperature seasonal cycle and ocean heat transporT. Climate Dynamics, 41 (7-8). 2019-2038. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1556-0
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract/Summary
Recent studies suggested that tropical cyclones (TCs) contribute significantly to the meridional oceanic heat transport by injecting heat into the subsurface through mixing. Here, we estimate the long-term oceanic impact of TCs by inserting realistic wind vortices along observed TCs tracks in a 1/2° resolution ocean general circulation model over the 1978–2007 period. Warming of TCs’ cold wakes results in a positive heat flux into the ocean (oceanic heat uptake; OHU) of ~480 TW, consistent with most recent estimates. However, ~2/5 of this OHU only compensates the heat extraction by the TCs winds during their passage. Another ~2/5 of this OHU is injected in the seasonal thermocline and hence released back to the atmosphere during the following winter. Because of zonal compensations and equatorward transport, only one-tenth of the OHU is actually exported poleward (46 TW), resulting in a marginal maximum contribution of TCs to the poleward ocean heat transport. Other usually neglected TC-related processes however impact the ocean mean state. The residual Ekman pumping associated with TCs results in a sea-level drop (rise) in the core (northern and southern flanks) of TC-basins that expand westward into the whole basin as a result of planetary wave propagation. More importantly, TC-induced mixing and air-sea fluxes cool the surface in TC-basins during summer, while the re-emergence of subsurface warm anomalies warms it during winter. This leads to a ~10 % reduction of the sea surface temperature seasonal cycle within TCs basins, which may impact the climate system.
Item Type: | Publication - Article |
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Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1556-0 |
ISSN: | 0930-7575 |
Date made live: | 10 Mar 2014 16:38 +0 (UTC) |
URI: | https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/505603 |
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