On the impact of air-sea feedback mechanisms under storm events

The study of intense cyclones and their associated extreme winds and waves has received much attention in recent years. Interaction processes between the ocean surface and the lower atmosphere have an exert role in both the atmospheric and oceanic circulation, especially in the occasion of extreme events. Under such weather conditions accompanied with increased winds and waves, interaction processes are more imminent and important, influencing the derived momentum fluxes. Likewise, air-sea heat fluxes are sensitive to the sea surface temperature, which also affects the intensity and evolution of extreme storms. In this context, significant uncertainties are involved in the physical processes of the air-ocean system, including momentum, heat and moisture complex exchanges.

To improve the understanding and description of the air-sea feedback mechanisms, numerical models that consider atmosphere and wave-ocean interaction are necessary. In this work, a combined atmospheric-wave modeling system is employed with wind-wave parameterization schemes for the expression of the sea state conditions. Furthermore modeled sea surface temperature fields are considered to study the time-varying effects of the air-sea temperature gradient.

The aforementioned approaches are examined through sensitivity experiments focused on characteristic storm cases over the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.