A Vorticity‐Divergence View of Internal Wave Generation by a Fast‐Moving Tropical Cyclone: Insights From Super Typhoon Mangkhut

Brizuela, Noel G.; Johnston, S.; Alford, Matthew H.; Asselin, Olivier; Rudnick, Daniel L.; Moum, James N.; Thompson, Elizabeth; Wang, Shuguang; Lee, Chia‐Ying

doi:10.1029/2022jc019400

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 111 publications

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“…The PV was usually assumed to be conservative in the inviscid and adiabatic interior, but the conservation will be disturbed by frictional and diabatic processes in the surface boundary layer, such as TCs which induced turbulent mixing dominating water mass transformation down to 100 m depth (Brizuela et al, 2023). When PV reduced to a negative value, the fluid was drawn toward a state of instability (Thomas, 2005).…”

Section: Occurrence Of Submesoscale Processes During Tcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Submesoscale Kinetic Energy Induced by Vertical Buoyancy Fluxes During the Tropical Cyclone Haitang

Yi,

Qiu,

Wang

et al. 2024

JGR Oceans

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Submesoscale process is an important part in the kinetic energy cascade from large‐scale circulation to turbulent dissipation, and a key component of the global heat budget. Its dynamic response to weather event is an important process in forecasting marine bio‐chemical matter transport. So how will submesoscale instabilities response to tropical cyclones (TCs) is worth studying. Based on underwater glider observations and 1‐km high resolution numerical modeling, we investigated two TCs (Roke and Haitang)‐induced submesoscale baroclinic instabilities and their dynamic mechanisms in the Northern South China Sea. The TC Haitang induced significant surface cooling, mixed layer deepening, front sharpening, and enhanced the mixed layer baroclinic and symmetric instabilities. The submesoscale kinetic energy also enhanced sharply after TC Haitang, which was higher correlated with increased mesoscale strain rates. The submesoscale energetics analysis revealed that the enhanced frontal submesoscale kinetic energy after TC Haitang was mainly from potential energy release via baroclinic energy conversion. Four groups of sensitivity numerical experiments revealed that the turbulent heat buoyancy flux and the Ekman buoyancy flux contributed equally to the positive baroclinic energy conversion during the TC Haitang. This study helps us to understand the multiscale oceanic energy transfers and submesoscale air‐sea interaction processes.

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Section: Occurrence Of Submesoscale Processes During Tcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Submesoscale Kinetic Energy Induced by Vertical Buoyancy Fluxes During the Tropical Cyclone Haitang

Yi,

Qiu,

Wang

et al. 2024

JGR Oceans

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Prolonged thermocline warming by near-inertial internal waves in the wakes of tropical cyclones

Brizuela

Alford

Xie

et al. 2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Turbulence-enhanced mixing of upper ocean heat allows interaction between the tropical atmosphere and cold water masses that impact climate at higher latitudes thereby regulating air–sea coupling and poleward heat transport. Tropical cyclones (TCs) can drastically enhance upper ocean mixing and generate powerful near-inertial internal waves (NIWs) that propagate down into the deep ocean. Globally, downward mixing of heat during TC passage causes warming in the seasonal thermocline and pumps 0.15 to 0.6 PW of heat into the unventilated ocean. The final distribution of excess heat contributed by TCs is needed to understand subsequent consequences for climate; however, it is not well constrained by current observations. Notably, whether or not excess heat supplied by TCs penetrates deep enough to be kept in the ocean beyond the winter season is a matter of debate. Here, we show that NIWs generated by TCs drive thermocline mixing weeks after TC passage and thus greatly deepen the extent of downward heat transfer induced by TCs. Microstructure measurements of the turbulent diffusivity ( κ ) and turbulent heat flux ( J q ) in the Western Pacific before and after the passage of three TCs indicate that mean thermocline values of κ and J q increased by factors of 2 to 7 and 2 to 4 (95% confidence level), respectively, after TC passage. Excess mixing is shown to be associated with the vertical shear of NIWs, demonstrating that studies of TC–climate interactions ought to represent NIWs and their mixing to accurately capture TC effects on background ocean stratification and climate.

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Near-inertial ocean response to a typhoon on a continental slope in the Northern South China Sea

Zhang,

Wu,

Liu

et al. 2024

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Typhoons are strong natural events that significantly influence the marine environment. In 2018, Typhoon Mangkhut traveled over a moored station with a depth ~1900 m on continental slope in the northern South China Sea, the near-inertial oceanic responses are studied based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) model simulation combined with observation data. Near-inertial currents after Mangkhut can be divided into three layers: near-circular polarized in upper ocean, across-slope polarized in deep ocean and along-slope polarized near the bottom, thickness of the three layers depend on the slope steepness. According to across-slope and along-slope intensified currents, the near-bottom vertical velocities and near-inertial energy were intensified at the moored station. The across-slope forth/back near-inertial flows brought cold/warm and salty/fresh water from deeper/shallower depth, increased vertical excursions of near-bottom temperature/salinity isolines and near-inertial available potential energy. The near-inertial barotropic across-slope currents were much greater than along-slope currents, with net cooling and salinity increase of the whole water column at the moored station. The core responses to Mangkhut were within 100 km around the station. The near-inertial kinetic energy generated both at sea surface and bottom slope, then propagated vertically into ocean interior and horizontally into the South China Sea basin as well as some topography-trapped waves propagated along the slope. This work enriches the understanding of air–sea interactions in coastal regions and the effect of ocean topography, especially after a typhoon.

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A Vorticity‐Divergence View of Internal Wave Generation by a Fast‐Moving Tropical Cyclone: Insights From Super Typhoon Mangkhut

Cited by 3 publications

References 111 publications

Submesoscale Kinetic Energy Induced by Vertical Buoyancy Fluxes During the Tropical Cyclone Haitang

Submesoscale Kinetic Energy Induced by Vertical Buoyancy Fluxes During the Tropical Cyclone Haitang

Prolonged thermocline warming by near-inertial internal waves in the wakes of tropical cyclones

Near-inertial ocean response to a typhoon on a continental slope in the Northern South China Sea

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