Modulation of Upper Ocean Vertical Temperature Structure and Heat Content by a Fast-Moving Tropical Cyclone

Abstract

Abstract The ocean temperature response to tropical cyclones (TCs) is important for TC development, local air–sea interactions, and the global air–sea heat budget and transport. The modulation of the upper ocean vertical temperature structure after a fast-moving TC was studied at the observation stations in the northern South China Sea, including TCs Kalmaegi (2014), Rammasun (2014), Sarika (2016), and Haima (2016). The upper ocean temperature and heat response to the TCs mainly depended on the combined effect of mixing and vertical advection. Mixing cooled the sea surface and warmed the subsurface, while upwelling (downwelling) reduced (increased) the subsurface warm anomaly and cooled (warmed) the deeper ocean. An ideal parameterization that depends on only the nondimensional mixing depth (HE), nondimensional transition layer thickness (HT), and nondimensional upwelling depth (HU) was able to roughly reproduce sea surface temperature (SST) and upper ocean heat change. After TCs, the subsurface heat anomalies moved into the deeper ocean. The air–sea surface heat flux contributed little to the upper ocean temperature anomaly during the TC forcing stage and did not recover the surface ocean back to pre-TC conditions more than one and a half months after the TC. This work shows how upper ocean temperature and heat content varies by a TC, indicating that TC-induced mixing modulates the warm surface water into the subsurface, and TC-induced advection further modulates the warm water into the deeper ocean and influences the ocean heat budget. Significance Statement Tropical cyclones can cause a strong ocean response that modulates the upper ocean temperature structure and contributes to the local heat budget and transport. This manuscript shows how mixing and vertical advection modulate upper ocean temperature after four fast-moving tropical cyclones, and then gives a parameterization of how sea surface temperature and upper ocean heat change depend on the two mechanisms. The temperature anomalies can propagate into deeper ocean after the tropical cyclones, and sea surface heat flux is not important for upper ocean temperature response during a tropical cyclone. These results show how the upper ocean temperature responses to a tropical cyclone, and influences the local heat budget.