Unveiling the Relationship Between Mediterranean Tropical‐Like Cyclones and Rising Sea Surface Temperature

• Published in: Geophysical research letters 2024-10, Vol.51 (20), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Avolio, E., Fanelli, C., Pisano, A., Miglietta, M. M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anomalies; Climate change; Cyclogenesis; Cyclones; Datasets; Environmental impact; medicanes; Sea surface temperature; Sea surface temperature anomalies; Severe weather; severe wheater; Surface fluxes; Surface temperature; tropical‐like cyclones
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/2024GL109921

Leveraging the Copernicus high‐resolution multi‐year Mediterranean Sea Surface Temperature (SST) dataset, 15 selected tropical‐like cyclones (TLCs) are analyzed with the objective of elucidating the anomalies of SST at the time of cyclogenesis and the connection between the change in SST during the cyclone lifetime and its characteristics. The long‐term SST increase associated with climate change is identified by comparing detrended and original anomalies. Detrending removes the effect of the intensification of SST anomaly over time, revealing that no significant anomalies generally emerge in the early stages of the TLC lifetimes. Conversely, winter events exhibit early‐stage positive SST anomalies. Also, high SST values were observed during the intensification of the most intense cyclones. A cold SST anomaly is left after the passage of the cyclones, due to the intense sea surface fluxes extracting heat from the sea. Plain Language Summary Mediterranean tropical‐like cyclones are severe weather events able to produce large socio‐economic and environmental impact, as well as considerable damage. On average, 1.5 such events affect the Mediterranean each year. In this study we assess the Sea Surface Temperature conditions related to the events reported in the literature of the past four decades. We use a high‐resolution multi‐year SST dataset over the Mediterranean Sea, to reveal the potential relationship between the change in SST before and during the cyclone's lifetime and their features. Our results show that SST plays an important role in the intensification phases of the events, while no significant SST anomaly emerges in the early stages for most of the cyclones. Key Points No significant SST anomalies are found at the early stage of medicanes, except for the winter cases that exhibit a positive anomaly SST value is particularly high for the most intense cyclones (September cases) The passage of the cyclones over the sea induces a cooling mainly during their mature phase