Tropical Cyclones in Rotating Radiative–Convective Equilibrium with Coupled SST

• Published in: Journal of the atmospheric sciences 2017-03, Vol.74 (3), p.879-892
• Main Authors: Zhou, Wenyu, Held, Isaac M., Garner, Stephen T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Angular momentum; Atmosphere; atmosphere-ocean interaction; Atmospheric boundary layer; Atmospheric models; Boundary layers; Climate change; Cooling; Coupling; Cyclones; Depth; Dynamics; Entropy; ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Equilibrium; Fluid dynamics; Frameworks; Geometry; Hurricanes; Laboratories; meteorology & atmospheric sciences; Momentum; Ocean models; Physics; radiative-convective equilibrium; Sea surface; Sea surface temperature; Simulation; Storms; Surface temperature; Temperature effects; Tropical climate; Tropical cyclones
• ISSN: 0022-4928; 1520-0469
• DOI: 10.1175/JAS-D-16-0195.1

Tropical cyclones are studied under the idealized framework of rotating radiative–convective equilibrium, achieved in a large doubly periodic f plane by coupling the column physics of a global atmospheric model to rotating hydrostatic dynamics. Unlike previous studies that prescribe uniform sea surface temperature (SST) over the domain, SSTs are now predicted by coupling the atmosphere to a simple slab ocean model. With coupling, SSTs under the eyewall region of tropical cyclones (TCs) become cooler than the environment. However, the domain still fills up with multiple long-lived TCs in all cases examined, including at the limit of the very small depth of the slab. The cooling of SSTs under the eyewall increases as the depth of the slab ocean layer decreases but levels off at roughly 6.5 K as the depth approaches zero. At the eyewall, the storm interior is decoupled from the cooler surface and moist entropy is no longer well mixed along the angular momentum surface in the boundary layer. TC intensity is reduced from the potential intensity computed without the cooling, but the intensity reduction is smaller than that estimated by a potential intensity taking into account the cooling and assuming that moist entropy is well mixed along angular momentum surfaces within the atmospheric boundary layer.