Publication Date:
2015-08-12
Description:
During October 2014, Hurricane Gonzalo traveled within 85km from the location of an underwater glider situated north of Puerto Rico. Observations collected before, during, and after the passage of this hurricane were analyzed to improve our understanding of the upper-ocean response to hurricane winds. The main finding in this study is that salinity potentially played an important role on changes observed in the upper-ocean; a near-surface barrier-layer likely suppressed the hurricane-induced upper-ocean cooling, leading to smaller than expected temperature changes. Post-storm observations also revealed a partial recovery of the ocean to pre-storm conditions 11 days after the hurricane. Comparison with a coupled ocean-atmosphere hurricane model indicates that model-observations discrepancies are largely linked to salinity effects described. Results presented in this study emphasize the value of underwater glider observations for improving our knowledge of how the ocean responds to tropical cyclone winds and for tropical cyclone intensification studies and forecasts.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
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