Mixed Layer Cooling in Mesoscale Oceanic Eddies during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
- 1 December 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Monthly Weather Review
- Vol. 137 (12) , 4188-4207
- https://doi.org/10.1175/2009mwr2849.1
Abstract
During favorable atmospheric conditions, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita deepened to category 5 over the Loop Current’s (LC) bulge associated with an amplifying warm core eddy. Both hurricanes subsequently weakened to category 3 after passing over a cold core eddy (CCE) prior to making landfall. Reduced (increased) oceanic mixed layer (OML) cooling of ∼1°C (4.5°C) was observed over the LC (CCE) where the storms rapidly deepened (weakened). Data acquired during and subsequent to the passage of both hurricanes indicate that the modulated velocity response in these geostrophic features was responsible for the contrasts in the upper-ocean cooling levels. For similar wind forcing, the OML velocity response was about 2 times larger inside the CCE that interacted with Katrina than in the LC region affected by Rita, depending on the prestorm OML thickness. Hurricane-induced upwelling and vertical mixing were increased (reduced) in the CCE (LC). Less wind-driven kinetic energy was available to increase vertic...Keywords
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