A Study of Ocean-Atmospheric Interactions Associated with Hurricane Charley

Previous studies by Reddy et.al., (1998, 2003) have indicated a strong Ocean-Atmospheric coupling during the development of tropical cyclone/hurricane activity over the Gulf of Mexico. We extend these investigations to the hurricane Charley, which developed over the Caribbean and made land fall over the west coast of Florida during August 9-14, 2004. NOAA GOES satellite, NDBC Buoy and NHC dropsonde data for sea surface temperature and meteorological variables including air temperature, wind speed and sea level pressure were used for computations. The study suggested strong heat flux before and during the formation of the hurricane with an evidence of 2-5 day oscillations in heat flux. These findings are in conformity with the previous studies. Heat flux values will be used to develop regression model for the prediction of the hurricane Charley intensification.