• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • WHOI Technical Reports
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    • WHOI Technical Reports
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Upper ocean response to a hurricane

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    WHOI 81-67.pdf (7.142Mb)
    Date
    1981-07
    Author
    Price, James F.  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/10271
    DOI
    10.1575/1912/10271
    Keyword
     Hurricanes; Ocean-atmosphere interaction 
    Abstract
    The upper ocean response to a moving hurricane is studied using historical air-sea data and a three-dimensional numerical ocean model. Sea surface temperature (SST) response is emphasized. The model has a surface mixed-layer (ML) that entrains according to a velocity dependent parameterization, and two lower layers that simulate the response in the thermocline. The passage of Hurricane Eloise (1975) over buoy EB-10 is simulated in detail. SST decreased 2°C as Eloise passed directly over EB-10 at 8.5 m s-1. Model results indicate that entrainment caused 85% of the irreversible heat flux into the ML; air-sea heat exchange accounted for the remainder. The maximum SST response was predicted to be -3°C and to occur 60 km to the right of the hurricane track. This is consistent with the well-documented rightward bias in the SST response to rapidly moving hurricanes. The rightward bias occurs in the model solution because the hurricane wind-stress vector turns clockwise with time on the right side of the track and is roughly resonant with the ML velocity. High ML velocities cause strong entrainment and thus a strong SST response. Model comparisons with EB-10 data suggest that a wind-speed-dependent drag coefficient similar to Garratt's (1977) is appropriate for hurricane conditions. A constant drag coefficient 1.5 x w-s underpredicts the amplitude of upwelling and the SST response by -40%. Numerical experiments show that the response has a lively dependence on a number of air-sea parameters. Intense, slowly moving hurricanes cause the largest response. The SST response is largest where cold water is near the sea surface, i.e., where the initial ML is thin and the upper thermocline temperature gradient is sharp. Nonlocal processes are important to some aspects of the upper ocean response. Upwelling significantly enhances entrainment under slowly moving hurricanes (≤4 m s-1) and reduces the rightward bias of the SST response. Horizontal advection dominates the pointwise ML heat balance during the several-day period following a hurricane passage. Pressure gradients set up by the upwelling do not play an important role in the entrainment process, but are an effective mechanism for dispersing energy from the ML over a 5-10 day time scale.
    Description
    Also published as: Journal of Physical Oceanography 11 (1981): 153-175
    Collections
    • Physical Oceanography (PO)
    • WHOI Technical Reports
    Suggested Citation
    Price, J. F. (1981). Upper ocean response to a hurricane. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/10271
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      The CBLAST-Hurricane program and the next-generation fully coupled atmosphere–wave–ocean models for hurricane research and prediction 

      Chen, Shuyi S.; Zhao, Wei; Donelan, Mark A.; Price, James F.; Walsh, Edward J. (American Meteorological Society, 2007-03)
      The record-setting 2005 hurricane season has highlighted the urgent need for a better understanding of the factors that contribute to hurricane intensity, and for the development of corresponding advanced hurricane ...
    • Thumbnail

      Impacts of oceanic mixed layer on hurricanes: a simulation experiment with Hurricane Sandy 

      Li, Siqi; Chen, Changsheng; Wu, Zhongxiang; Beardsley, Robert C.; Li, Ming (American Geophysical Union, 2020-10-07)
      Influences of the ocean mixed layer (OML) dynamics on intensity, pathway, and landfall of October 2012 Hurricane Sandy were examined through an experiment using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The WRF ...
    • Thumbnail

      Metrics of hurricane-ocean interaction : vertically-integrated or vertically-averaged ocean temperature? 

      Price, James F. (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2009-05-05)
      The ocean thermal field is often represented in hurricane-ocean interaction by a metric termed upper Ocean Heat Content (OHC), the vertical integral of ocean temperature in excess of 26°C. High values of OHC have proven ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo