Process Study of Oceanic Responses to Typhoons Using Arrays of EM-APEX Floats and Moorings
Abstract
Our long-term scientific goals are to understand the upper ocean dynamics, to understand the coupling between the ocean and atmosphere via air-sea fluxes, and to quantify the mechanisms of air-sea interactions. Our ultimate goal is to help develop improved parameterizations of air-sea fluxes in ocean-atmosphere models and parameterizations of small-scale processes in the upper ocean and the stratified interior. The energy of tropical cyclones is derived from the ocean via the air-sea flux. The oceanic heat content in the mixed layer and the air-sea enthalpy flux play important roles in determining the typhoon's maximum potential intensity, structure, energy, trajectory, and dynamic evolution. Forced by tropical cyclones, the most energetic oceanic processes are surface waves, wind-driven current, shear and turbulence, and inertial currents. To understand the dynamics and structures of tropical cyclones, one needs to understand these oceanic processes and quantify their effects on the air-sea flux during the passage of cyclones. Small-scale and meso-scale oceanic processes in the wake region also play crucial roles in determining the recovery of oceanic conditions after their responses to tropical cyclones. In tropical cyclones, these processes are the least understood primarily because of the paucity of direct field observations, consequently leading to large uncertainties in air-sea flux parameterizations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA542396
Entities
People
- Ren-Chieh Lien
- Thomas B. Sanford
Organizations
- University of Washington