Effects of sea spray evaporation and dissipative heating on intensity and structure of tropical cyclone

Abstract

To examine effects of sea spray evaporation and dissipative heating on structure and intensity of a real tropical cyclone, the sea spray flux parameterization scheme was incorporated into the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5). Sensitivity tests were performed with varying the spray source function intensities and with and without dissipation heating. The numerical results indicate that sea spray evaporation increases the interfacial sensible heat flux, which is increased by 16% for the moderate spray and 47% for the heavy spray, but has little effect on the interfacial latent heat flux. The net effect of sea spray evaporation is to decrease the total sensible heat flux and to increase the total latent heat flux. The total enthalpy flux is increased by 1% and 12% with moderate and strong spray amounts, respectively. Consistent with these results, the intensity of the tropical cyclone is increased by 5% and 16% in maximum 10-m wind speed, respectively, due to sea spray evaporation. Sea spray evaporation and dissipative heating modify the tropical cyclone structure in important but complex ways. The effect of sea spray on the near-surface temperature and moisture depends on the spray amounts and its location within the tropical cyclone. Within the high-wind region of a tropical cyclone, the lower atmosphere becomes cooler and moister due to the evaporation of sea spray. However, the dissipative heating offsets the cooling due to sea spray evaporation, which makes the lower atmosphere warmer.