Hurricane Research: Air-Sea Exchange and Ocean Response
Hurricane Intensity Hurricanes draw their energy from the warm tropical ocean. Beneath the warm skin of the tropical ocean, lies a vast reservior of cold water. The strong winds of a hurricane can mix these layers together, cooling the warm water and depriving the hurricane of its fuel. We need to understand this feedback better to improve forecasts of hurricane intensity.
Ocean Response Hurricanes force strong currents and strong mixing into anotherwise mostly calm late summer tropical ocean. This is an ideal enviroment for studying how wind affects the ocean.
Gas Exchange Much of the fossil fuel CO2 influencing the earth's climate ends up in the ocean by fluxing across the air-sea interface. Some of it is returned back to the atmosphere by the combined action of mixing and exchange during hurricanes. The flux of gasses across the interface, especially at high winds, is thus an important climate problem.
Cooling behind Hurricane Frances (Talk PDF,5.9MB) (AVI Movie 7.3MB)
We like to measure big signals, because these often isolate important physical processes. Hurricanes have very strong air-sea interaction. We have developed the tools to measure the ocean beneath hurricanes and used them in 1999 and 2002-2004 (as part of CBLAST). Our continuing research is focussed on several key areas:
Upper Ocean response to Hurricane Frances
Physics of Gas Exchange at Extreme Wind Speeds
PAPERS
Air–sea gas exchange at extreme wind speeds measured by autonomous oceanographic floats - D'Asaro and McNeil, 2007
Parameterization of air–sea gas fluxes at extreme wind speeds McNeil and D'Asaro, 2007