Forced Stage Response to a Moving Hurricane

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Abstract
The upper ocean's response to three hurricanes [Norbert (1984), Josephine (1984) and Gloria (1985)] is examined using field observations and a numerical ocean model. Our goal is to describe the physical processes that determine the structure and amplitude of hurricane-driven upper-ocean currents. All three of these Northern Hemisphere hurricanes produced a rightward-biased response of the mixed-layer current and transport. This asymmetry arises because the wind stress vector rotates clockwise on the right side of the track and remains nearly parallel with the inertially rotating mixed-layer current during most of the hurricane passage. The maximum observed mixed-layer current varied from 0.8 m s−1 in response to Josephine, which was a large but comparatively weak hurricane, to 1.7 m s−1 in response to Gloria, which was very large and also intense. These cases have been simulated with a three-dimensional numerical model that includes a treatment of wind-driven vertical mixing within the primitive ... Abstract The upper ocean's response to three hurricanes [Norbert (1984), Josephine (1984) and Gloria (1985)] is examined using field observations and a numerical ocean model. Our goal is to describe the physical processes that determine the structure and amplitude of hurricane-driven upper-ocean currents. All three of these Northern Hemisphere hurricanes produced a rightward-biased response of the mixed-layer current and transport. This asymmetry arises because the wind stress vector rotates clockwise on the right side of the track and remains nearly parallel with the inertially rotating mixed-layer current during most of the hurricane passage. The maximum observed mixed-layer current varied from 0.8 m s−1 in response to Josephine, which was a large but comparatively weak hurricane, to 1.7 m s−1 in response to Gloria, which was very large and also intense. These cases have been simulated with a three-dimensional numerical model that includes a treatment of wind-driven vertical mixing within the primitive ...

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