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The evolution of a stratified upper ocean under tropical cyclone forcing
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Coakley, Samuel James. The evolution of a stratified upper ocean under tropical cyclone forcing. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-96xa-d876

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TitleThe evolution of a stratified upper ocean under tropical cyclone forcing
NameCoakley, Samuel James (author); Miles, Travis (chair); Glenn, Scott (member); Rudzin, Johna (member); Beaird, Nicholas (member); Rutgers University; School of Graduate Studies
Date Created2022
Other Date2022-05 (degree)
SubjectPhysical oceanography, Air-sea interactions, In situ observations, Modeling, Ocean mixing, Tropical cyclones
Extent80 pages
DescriptionIn this dissertation, I work to identify what ocean processes and features are essential to capturing the response of a highly stratified, nearshore ocean under tropical cyclone forcing. A combination of in situ measurements, theory, and numerical modeling is used in each case study to understand how the ocean responded and what drove that response. Improving our understanding of how the ocean responds to tropical cyclones will improve our ability to predict that response and how a tropical cyclone will change over time because of the connections between the upper ocean and tropical cyclone intensity. In the first chapter of this dissertation, I investigate what drove the extreme cooling of the sea surface temperature of 8°C under Typhoon Soulik (2018). This tropical cyclone caused cooling ahead of its eye, which led to its weakening before making landfall. I show that the surface cooling was predominantly driven by local, vertical mixing, using theory that is mixing process agnostic, but the wind-driven shear mixing of a one-dimensional model could not recreate the observed response, indicating that other vertical mixing processes were essential to the ocean’s response to tropical cyclone forcing in this case. In the second chapter, I test the sensitivity of the evolution of the highly stratified, nearshore ocean along the Louisiana coast under Hurricane Ida (2021) to the presence and absence of a freshwater barrier layer. A freshwater barrier layer is formed when there is strong salinity stratification in an isothermal layer of the upper ocean. These features have been shown to support tropical cyclone intensification in the open ocean by inhibiting vertical mixing thus inhibiting surface cooling but there has been limited research on their impacts on tropical cyclones immediately before landfall. I created two sets of initial conditions from underwater glider observations ahead of Hurricane Ida, one set with the observed barrier layer and one where it was removed. The removal of the barrier layer led to an increase in the sea surface temperature cooling, a 14.8% reduction in the surface enthalpy flux to the atmosphere, and a 5% reduction in the dynamic potential intensity of Hurricane Ida, relative to the case with the barrier layer. These results indicate that shelf and coastal barrier layers are essential features that could cause changes in the intensity of a tropical cyclone as it approaches land. In this dissertation, I worked to determine what features and processes were essential to capturing the response of a stratified, nearshore ocean under tropical cyclone forcing and how that impacts storm intensity to improve our ability to forecast near land changes in intensity.
NoteM.S.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-96xa-d876
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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