Tropical Cyclones-Ocean Interactions in a High Resolution GCM: the Role of the Coupling Frequency

Abstract:

The interaction between Tropical Cyclones (TCs) and ocean is a major mechanism responsible for energy exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean. TCs affect the thermal and dynamical structure of the ocean, but the magnitude of the impact is still uncertain. Very few CMIP5 models demonstrated ability in representing TCs, mainly due to their horizontal resolution. We aim to improve TCs representation in next CMIPs experiments through the new CMCC-CESM-NEMO General Circulation Model, having a horizontal resolution of ¼ degree in both atmospheric and ocean components. The model is capable to represent realistically TCs up to Cat-4 Typhoons. The wind structure associated with TCs is responsible for two important atmosphere–ocean feedbacks: the first feedback — positive — is driven by the latent heat associated with the enhanced evaporation rate and leads to an increase of the available energy for TC. The second feedback — negative — is due to the cold water upwelling induced by the increased wind stress at the ocean surface and by the shear-induced mixing at the base of the mixed layer. The second feedback is responsible for a significant cooling of the sea surface, leading to a weakening of the cyclone intensity due to the reduction of the total heat flux into the atmosphere. Furthermore TC intensification, intensity, and lifetime strongly depend on their transitional speed. A good representation of the TC-Ocean interaction strongly depends on the coupling frequency between the atmospheric and the ocean components, especially when simulating fast moving TCs. In this work, we investigate the role of the coupling frequency in representing the two mentioned feedbacks using the new fully coupled General Circulation Model developed at CMCC.