Integrated kinetic energy of Atlantic tropical cyclones in a global ocean surface wind analysis

Abstract

The integrated kinetic energy (IKE) of a tropical cyclone (TC), a volume integration of the surface winds around the centre of the TC, is computed from a comprehensive surface wind (National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) cross‐calibrated multi‐platform [CCMP]) analysis available over the global oceans to verify against IKE from wind radii estimates of extended best‐track data maintained by NOAA for the North Atlantic TCs. It is shown that CCMP surface wind analysis severely underestimates IKE largely from not resolving hurricane force winds for majority of the Atlantic TCs, under sampling short‐lived and small‐sized TCs. The seasonal cycle of the North Atlantic TC IKE also verifies poorly in the CCMP analysis. In this article we introduce proxy IKE (PIKE) based on the kinetic energy of the winds at the radius of the last closed isobar (ROCI), which shows promise for a wide range of TC sizes including the smaller‐sized TCs unresolved in the CCMP data set.