Identification

Title

Anomalously large latent heat fluxes in low to moderate wind conditions within the eddy-rich zone of the Northwestern Pacific

Abstract

An air-sea interaction field campaign was conducted in September of 2017 within the warm and cold eddy region of the western Northwest Pacific (WNP) (17.5 ring;-20.5 ring;N, 127.5 ring;E-133.5 ring;E). Both near-surface oceanic and atmospheric conditions in addition to ocean heat content (OHC) were examined to better understand the mechanisms governing high heat flux magnitudes responsible for rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones. Observations from this experiment indicate that the latent heat flux (LHF) under modest wind conditions reached 400 W m(-2) within the vicinity of a warm eddy, with OHC higher than 100 kJ cm(-2) of warm eddy region being 2 similar to 3 times as large as that of cold eddy region. These high OHC and a resultant high LHF in the warm eddy, comparable to the magnitude of LHF in the North Equatorial Current, may explain the mechanism of why tropical cyclones over a warm eddy in eddy-rich zones often rapidly intensify in the WNP. A month later typhoon Lan rapidly intensified into a super typhoon, while passing over the boundary region of warm and cold eddies during the observation period. Results from this study illustrate that both the wind-normalized LHF and the difference (Q(s)-Q(a)) between the specific humidity at air (Q(a)) and at the sea surface (Q(s)), closely correlate with OHC patterns, which suggests that the ocean looks likely to control the spatial pattern of LHF. Overall, both the ocean and weather conditions govern the pattern of specific humidity difference between the air-sea interface, with large OHC over the warm eddy controlling higher Q(s) and the pattern of Q(a) depending on the pattern of wind direction. Q(a) as a factor impacting LHF magnitude is strongly linked to wind direction in the experimental area, that is, the drier northwesterly flow and southeasterly moist wind, resulting in the enhanced contrast of specific humidity at cold eddy region.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d77948jd

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

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keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

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End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2024-02-06T00:00:00Z

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Conformity

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None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact