Hurricane wake restratification rates of one-, two- and three-dimensional processes

• Main Authors: Haney, S. (Author), Bachman, S. (Author), Cooper, B. (Author), Kupper, S. (Author), McCaffrey, Katherine (Author), Van Roekel, L. (Author), Stevenson, S. (Author), Fox-Kemper, Baylor (Author), Ferrari, Raffaele (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sears Foundation for Marine Research, Yale University, 2014-06-09T20:13:20Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

The restratification of the cold wakes of Tropical Cyclones Fanapi, Frances, Igor and Katrina are examined based on derived scalings for processes that can restore the hurricane wake toward the precyclone conditions. The different restoration processes depend on the parameters of the wake: depth, width, buoyancy anomaly and wind stress. The parameters needed are derived for each wake from satellite and climatological data. The scalings are based on model results and existing parameterizations, including air-sea heat fluxes (one-dimensional) Ekman buoyancy fluxes (two-dimensional) and mixed layer eddies (three-dimensional). The dominant surface restoration occurs by a combination of surface fluxes and Ekman buoyancy fluxes, while the submesoscale mixed layer eddy bolus fluxes are the dominant subsurface effect.
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF 0934737)
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant 0855010)
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA NNX09AF38G)
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA NNX09AO20H)
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF 0825614)
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (Fellowship)
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF REU 0913800)
University of Colorado Boulder (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program)