Prolonged thermocline warming by near-inertial internal waves in the wakes of tropical cyclones
Abstract
Powerful winds under tropical cyclones (TCs) mix thermal gradients in the upper ocean and thereby transfer heat down into the thermocline. Anomalous thermocline heat supplied by TC-driven mixing is eventually released back into the atmosphere, but whether subsequent impacts to climate are local or remote depends on the depth at which TCs deposit these warm anomalies. We use shipboard observations to demonstrate how near-inertial internal waves (NIWs) generated by TCs drive mixing that transfers ocean heat down across the thermocline weeks after TC passage. The magnitude of heat fluxes associated with NIWs suggests that this mechanism must be accounted for when assessing the impacts of TCs on ocean heat storage and climate.
- Publication:
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- June 2023
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.2301664120
- Bibcode:
- 2023PNAS..12001664G
- Keywords:
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- Physical Sciences and Mathematics