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Hurricane Interaction with the Upper Ocean in the Amazon-Orinoco Plume Region

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Hurricane Interaction with the Upper Ocean in the Amazon-Orinoco Plume Region Hurricane interaction with the upper ocean in the Amazon-Orinoco plume region Yannis Androulidakis, Vassiliki Kourafalou, George Halliwell, Matthieu Le Hénaff, Heesook Kang, Michael Mehari & Robert Atlas Ocean Dynamics Theoretical, Computational and Observational Oceanography ISSN 1616-7341 Volume 66 Number 12 Ocean Dynamics (2016) 66:1559-1588 DOI 10.1007/s10236-016-0997-0 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer- Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self- archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. 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The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy Ocean Dynamics (2016) 66:1559–1588 DOI 10.1007/s10236-016-0997-0 Hurricane interaction with the upper ocean in the Amazon-Orinoco plume region Yannis Androulidakis1 & Vassiliki Kourafalou 1 & George Halliwell2 & Matthieu Le Hénaff2,3 & Heesook Kang1 & Michael Mehari3 & Robert Atlas2 Received: 3 February 2016 /Accepted: 14 September 2016 /Published online: 6 October 2016 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 Abstract The evolution of three successive hurricanes the amount of ocean thermal energy provided to these storms (Katia, Maria, and Ophelia) is investigated over the river was greatly reduced, which acted to limit intensification. plume area formed by the Amazon and Orinoco river outflows Numerical experiments and analyses, in tandem with obser- during September of 2011. The study focuses on hurricane vational support, lead to the conclusion that the presence of a impacts on the ocean structure and the ocean feedback river plume-induced BL is a strong factor in the ocean condi- influencing hurricane intensification. High-resolution tions influencing hurricane intensification. (1/25° × 1/25° horizontal grid) numerical simulations of the circulation in the extended Atlantic Hurricane Region Keywords Hurricane intensification . Barrier layer . Atlantic (Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Northwest Atlantic hurricane region . Amazon-Orinoco plume . HYCOM Ocean) were used to investigate the upper ocean response during the three hurricane-plume interaction cases. The three hurricanes revealed different evolution and intensification characteristics over an area covered by brackish surface wa- 1 Introduction ters. The upper ocean response to the hurricane passages over the plume affected region showed high variability due to the The Atlantic hurricane region (including the Northwest interaction of oceanic and atmospheric processes. The exis- Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico; tence of a barrier layer (BL), formed by the offshore spreading Fig. 1) exhibits substantial interannual variability of tropical of brackish waters, probably facilitated intensification of the cyclone (TC) activity (Goldenberg et al. 2001). The majority first storm (Hurricane Katia) because the river-induced BL of the hurricanes (80 %) originating from African easterly enhanced the resistance of the upper ocean to cooling. This waves occur during August to October (95 %) and are respon- effect was missing in the subsequent two hurricanes (Maria sible for more than 70 % of all destructions caused by TCs in and Ophelia) as the eroded BL (due to Katia passage) allowed the USA (Landsea and Gray 1992). A large area that extends the upper ocean cooling to be increased. As a consequence, thousands of kilometers in zonal and meridional directions over the western tropical Atlantic Ocean is covered by brack- ish waters originated from the Amazon and Orinoco rivers Responsible Editor: Pierre De Mey (Amazon-Orinoco hereafter in the text), modifying the ocean- ic conditions and thus influencing the TC activity (Ffield * Yannis Androulidakis 2007) and the general summertime Atlantic climate (Vizy [email protected] and Cook 2010). The western Atlantic Hurricane Region is thus particularly suited for the study of unique ocean and TC 1 Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, University interaction processes. The passages of three successive hurri- of Miami, Miami, FL, USA canes (Katia, Maria, and Ophelia) during September 2011 2 NOAA-AOML, Miami, FL, USA provide a suitable sequence of varying air-sea interaction con- 3 Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, ditions. The study objective is to examine the hurricane im- University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA pacts on the ocean structure over a vast river plume area and Author's personal copy 1560 Ocean Dynamics (2016) 66:1559–1588 Fig. 1 Salinity distribution over the model domain, as derived and Hurricane Maria (HM), and Hurricane Ophelia (HO) are presented with averaged from Aquarius daily observations during the period 2011– black, white,andred small dots, respectively. The Orinoco and Amazon 2014. The Atlantic hurricane region, Gulf of Mexico (GoM), Caribbean locations are also indicated with big black dots. The Pacific Ocean part is Sea (Caribbean S.), and Atlantic Hurricane SouthWestern (AHSW) not included in the simulations. The location of buoy 41040 and section subregions are indicated. The tracks of Hurricane Katia (HK), S1 are indicated with a black star and a dashed line,respectively the ocean feedback, as it relates to processes affecting hurri- observed every summer north of the Amazon-Orinoco dis- cane intensification. charge region (Masson and Delecluse 2001). Lentz (1995), The Amazon-Orinoco river system forms the largest fresh- based on in situ salinity measurements, showed that almost water source into the world oceans. The combined strong 30 % of the Amazon plume waters flow northwestward (north discharge leads to low-salinity coastal waters that spread into of 10° N) during July to October. The strong halocline, in- the equatorial Atlantic Ocean, forming an extensive buoyant duced by the river runoff, ranges from 3 to 30 m and extends plume with the lowest salinities and warmest temperatures in over a large part of the western tropical Atlantic Ocean during the region. The offshore spreading of these riverine waters is summer and fall (Pailler et al. 1999). Figure 1 showcases the promoted by the proximity to the equator, which limits the extensive spreading of Amazon and Orinoco brackish waters effects of the Coriolis force. River plume dynamics dictate (<35.6), as derived from Aquarius measurements and aver- that the along-shelf, buoyancy-driven transport of riverine wa- aged during the 2011–2014 period (see Sect. 2.2). ters is due to a geostrophic balance that induces a coastal The magnitude and fate of a TC are determined by a current in the direction of Kelvin-wave propagation combination of atmospheric and oceanic conditions. Wu (Kourafalou et al. 1996). Although strong for mid-latitude (2007) showed that there is strong correlation between the wet- river plumes, this balance deteriorates for tropical plumes, ting relative humidity and the mean peak intensity of hurri- the coastal current is absent and the offshore spreading of canes. Other critical large-scale atmospheric processes that af- riverine waters is enhanced. This spreading is more fect intensity involve the synoptic-scale environment (e.g., ver- pronounced in the summer season, aided by increased runoff tical wind shear, dry air entrainment, and interaction with mid- and the seasonal stratification of ambient waters. Ffield (2007) latitude troughs; Halliwell et al. 2015a). In terms of oceanic showed that the brackish plume may spread over a large factors, Jullien et al. (2014) showed that several macro-scale Atlantic region (0°—20° N, 78°–33° W) during the peak of dynamical processes may play a significant role on the TC the hurricane season (mid-August to mid-October). The intensification. There is actually a strong synergy between TC brackish waters may be traced northwestward into the evolution and ocean response. Forced sea surface temperature Caribbean Sea and northeastward into the North Atlantic (SST) cooling provides a negative feedback that can limit storm (Muller-Karger et al. 1988; Muller-Karger et al. 1995;Johns intensity by up to 50 % (Schade and Emanuel 1999). Strong et al. 1990; Coles et al. 2013). A thick low-salinity layer is currents forced by storms produce large shear at the ocean Author's personal copy Ocean Dynamics (2016) 66:1559–1588 1561 mixed layer base, and the resulting instability of this shear layer (Balaguru et al. 2012b). In particular, the Amazon-Orinoco rapidly deepens the mixed layer by up to several tens of meters plume forms a strong BL (Lukas and Lindstrom 1991; in strong storms (e.g., Shay et al. 1992; Sanford et al. 2011). Pailler et al. 1999). As a result, BLs are quasi-permanent in The resulting entrainment of deeper water typically increases the equatorial and western tropical Atlantic (De Boyer the salinity and reduces the temperature of the mixed layer. Montégut et al. 2007). The stratified and stable upper ocean Storms traveling faster than the first-mode baroclinic wave conditions in the presence of BLs, due to river plume spread- speed force a near-inertial wave train behind them, causing ing, may limit or prevent the intensive SST cooling that usu- entrainment to persist after storm passage (Shay et al. 2000; ally occurs under the hurricane’s core (Wang et al. 2011;Price Jullien et al. 2012). Halliwell et al. (2015a) showed that both 1981). Haline stratification can thus play a significant role by storm size and translation speed affect hurricane intensification. inhibiting the surface cooling usually induced by TCs (Neetu They investigated the intensity evolution of large and small et al. 2012) and may actually contribute to a more vigorous storms as a function of tropical cyclone heat potential hurricane season (Ffield 2007).
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