Impact of Typhoons on the Western Pacific Ocean (ITOP) DRI: Numerical Modeling of Ocean Mixed Layer Turbulence and Entrainment at High Winds.

摘要

A significant source of uncertainty in parameterizations of ocean boundary layer dynamics lies in our inability to accurately represent the role of surface waves in upper-ocean Langmuir turbulence, and in the resulting mixed layer entrainment processes. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of waves and Langmuir turbulence in the context of high wind forcing by typhoons and hurricanes, and also contributes to our ability to consistently parameterize these processes across a much wider wide range of wind speed and sea state forcing conditions. This collaborative DRI is focused on measuring and modeling the response of the upper ocean to strong typhoons both in simple, open ocean conditions and in the more complex conditions caused by ocean eddies and preconditioning by prior storms. The measurement and modeling activities include a focus on the impact of surface waves, air-sea fluxes and the temperature, salinity and velocity structure of the upper ocean. The goals of this effort are to understand key upper ocean processes, test upper ocean models, develop and test new parameterizations of upper ocean physics used and study the feedback from the ocean to typhoon intensity.