417 / 2024-09-16 17:57:47

Enhanced Mixing and Dissipation by Tropical Cyclones in the Northern South China Sea: Cases Study

Tropical Cyclone,Typhoon,Mixing,Dissipation,Mixed Layer,South China Sea

Session 39 - Ocean boundary layer turbulence: dynamics and its impact on the Earth system

Tropical cyclone (TC) is a strong synoptic phenomenon that occurs on ocean. Because of the strong TC winds, TCs induce turbulence and increase mixed layer in upper and bottom ocean. This presentation reports the impact of TC cases on the ocean currents, stratifications, mixed layer and dissipation rate in the northern South China Sea based on observations and model simulations. The observations are from moored stations, underwater gliders and Argo floats during TCs. The enhancement of upper ocean mixed layer depth relates to the TC characteristics (e.g. TC intensity and translation speed) as well as the distance of the observation positions to TC track. The bottom ocean topography (e.g. continental slope) is also important for the bottom ocean mixing and dissipation after a TC. This work enriches our knowledge on the influence of TCs on the ocean boundary layer turbulence and environment, especially in the South China Sea.