HEAT TRANSFER DURING A TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION

The Bay of Bengal receives the most rainfall globally and is one of the freshest subtropical regions in the ocean (Mahadevan, 2017). The unique ocean composition and atmospheric conditions interact to create the monsoons that the surrounding 1.4 billion residents and local agricultural economy rely on (Xavier, 2018). Due to the impacts of these weather systems on the coastal population, there is great motivation to understand and predict tropical cyclones and the start of the monsoon season in the Bay of Bengal. This project aims to investigate how heat transfers between the atmosphere, ocean surface layer, and deeper internal layers during the passage of a tropical cyclone. The surface layer is defined as the mixed layer. The interior layer goes from the surface to the 26° C isotherm, also known as the Tropical Cyclone Heat Potential, which is identified by the depth of the 26° C isotherm (Goni, Trinanes, 2003). The change in the heat content over time from the surface to the mixed layer and the mixed layer to the interior layer was compared to surface heat flux. The analysis showed that the ocean had a much higher magnitude of heat change compared to the surface and that tropical cyclones remove temperature structures in the ocean through mixing.     Mahadevan (2017). Oceanography C. Xavier (2018). Carnegie Endowment for International Peace G. Goni, J. Trinanes (2003). NOAA/AOML

Presentation Preference: Poster

Primary Presenter: Sydney Perkins, University of California Berkeley (sydperkins@berkeley.edu)

Authors:

Andrew Lucas, Scripps Institute of Oceanography  (ajlucas@ucsd.edu)

Tom Farrar, Woods Hole Oceanography Institute  (jfarrar@whoi.edu)

Jennifer Mackinnon, Scripps Institute of Oceanography  (jmackinnon@ucsd.edu)

Filipe Pereira, Scripps Institute of Oceanography  (fpereiradossantos@ucsd.edu)

Alejandra Sanchez- Rios, Scripps Institute of Oceanography  (asanchezrios@ucsd.edu)

Sydney Perkins, University of California Berkeley  (sydperkins@berkeley.edu)