Abstract
This work quantifies the magnitude, spatial structure, and temporal evolution of the cold wake left by North Atlantic hurricanes. To this end we composited the sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) induced by hurricane observations from 2002 to 2018 derived from the international best track archive for climate stewardship (IBTrACS). Cold wake characteristics were distinguished by a set of hurricane and oceanic properties: Hurricane translation speed and intensity, and the characteristics of the upper ocean stratification represented by two barrier layer metrics: Barrier layer thickness (BLT) and barrier layer potential energy (BLPE). The contribution of the above properties to the amplitude of the cold wake was analyzed individually and in combination. The mean magnitude of the hurricane-induced cooling was of 1.7 °C when all hurricanes without any distinction were considered, and the largest cooling was found for slow-moving, strong hurricanes passing over thinner barrier layers, with a cooling above 3.5 °C with respect to pre-storm sea surface temperature (SST) conditions. On average the cold wake needed about 60 days to disappear and experienced a strong decay in the first 20 days, when the magnitude of the cold wake had decreased by 80%. Differences between the cold wakes yielded by mostly infrared and merged infrared and microwave remote sensed SST data were also evaluated, with an overall relative underestimation of the hurricane-induced cooling of about 0.4 °C for infrared-mostly data.
Highlights
Sea surface temperature (SST) plays a major role in the existence and life of a tropical cyclone (TC)
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: in Section 2 we present the North Atlantic hurricane tracks and sea surface temperature (SST) data as well as the method applied to construct the composites; Section 3 quantifies the difference in SST cooling obtained between SST fields retrieved from mostly infrared sensors and from merged satellite-based data; Section 4 describes the average magnitude and spatial pattern of the cold wake for a set of hurricane properties such as the translational speed and the maximum wind intensity, and the upper ocean stratification; Section 5 describes the temporal evolution of the cold wake; Section 6 presents some insights on how the cold wake affects the hurricane strength; to conclude, Section 7 summarizes the main findings
The main aim of this work is to assess the cold wake amplitude and structure, we briefly investigate if any connection exists between the observed SST cooling and the hurricane maximum sustained surface wind speed (Wmax) provided by international best track archive for climate stewardship (IBTrACS) data
Summary
Sea surface temperature (SST) plays a major role in the existence and life of a tropical cyclone (TC). The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: in Section 2 we present the North Atlantic hurricane tracks and SST data as well as the method applied to construct the composites; Section 3 quantifies the difference in SST cooling obtained between SST fields retrieved from mostly infrared sensors (used by e.g., [28,32]) and from merged satellite-based data (infrared + microwave); Section 4 describes the average magnitude and spatial pattern of the cold wake for a set of hurricane properties such as the translational speed and the maximum wind intensity, and the upper ocean stratification; Section 5 describes the temporal evolution of the cold wake; Section 6 presents some insights on how the cold wake affects the hurricane strength; to conclude, Section 7 summarizes the main findings
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