Tropical Cyclone Heat Potential and the Rapid Intensification of Hurricane Harvey in the Texas Bight

• Published in: Journal of geophysical research. Oceans 2019-04, Vol.124 (4), p.2440-2451
• Main Authors: Potter, Henry, DiMarco, Steven F., Knap, Anthony H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amplification; Buoys; Cold water; Cyclones; Energy sources; Geophysics; Heat; hurricane; Hurricane forecasting; hurricane intensity; Hurricanes; Hydrographic surveys; Ocean floor; ocean observing; Oceans; Polls & surveys; Satellite data; Shallow water; Storms; Subsurface temperatures; Surface temperature; Surveying; Tropical climate; tropical cyclone; tropical cyclone heat potential; Tropical cyclone intensities; Tropical cyclones; Tropical depressions; Upper ocean; upper ocean heat; Warm water; Water depth; Water temperature
• ISSN: 2169-9275; 2169-9291
• DOI: 10.1029/2018JC014776

Harvey entered the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical depression on 23 August 2017; two days later it had strengthened to a category 1 hurricane. Over the following 30 hr Harvey rapidly intensified, reaching the Texas Bight as a category 3 storm. This intensification continued while Harvey crossed the shelf, making landfall as a category 4 storm 60 km east of Corpus Christi, TX on 26 August. A hydrographic survey two weeks prior to landfall shows that the tropical cyclone heat potential across the Texas Bight was approximately 35 kJ/cm2, which is 55 kJ/cm2 less than the amount of upper ocean heat normally associated with intensification. Combined with buoy, float, and satellite data, we use hydrographic surveys to study the conditions of the Texas Bight that contributed to Harvey's rapid intensification. We find that, at the time of landfall, the Texas Bight was well mixed with very warm water extending from the surface to bottom. As a consequence, mixing induced by Harvey had a small impact on surface temperatures which remained high and supported continued intensification. The results show that tropical cyclone heat potential is not an effective metric for hurricane intensity prediction in shallow water, and illustrate the need for continuous subsurface monitoring in order to improve hurricane forecasts. Plain Language Summary Hurricanes rely on heat extracted from the upper ocean as their energy source. When the ocean is warm conditions are more favorable and hurricanes are often stronger. Hurricanes also mix the ocean which brings cold water from greater depth and can lead to intensity reduction. Tropical cyclone heat potential is a measure of heat in the upper ocean which is available as an energy source for hurricanes. In shallow water tropical cyclone heat potential is typically low because there is not as much water to store heat; therefore, hurricanes are not expected to intensify over shallow water. In this paper we show that hurricane Harvey did intensify over the shallow water off the Texas coast despite having low heat potential. Using ocean measurements, we found that the reason was because the ocean was very warm from the surface to the seabed. Therefore, when Harvey mixed the ocean very little cold water was brought up from below and the surface remained warm which allowed Harvey to continue to strengthen. Results suggest that tropical cyclone heat potential is ineffective for estimating hurricane strength in shallow water and demonstrates the im