At the interface between the lower atmosphere and sea surface,sea spray might significantly influence air-sea heat fluxes and subsequently,modulate upper ocean temperature during a typhoon passage. The effects of sea spray were introduced into the parameterization of sea surface roughness in a 1-D turbulent model,to investigate the effects of sea spray on upper ocean temperature in the Kuroshio Extension area,for the cases of two real typhoons from 2006,Yagi and Soulik. Model output was compared with data from the Kuroshio Extension Observatory(KEO),and Reynolds and AMSRE satellite remote sensing sea surface temperatures. The results indicate drag coefficients that include the spray effect are closer to observations than those without,and that sea spray can enhance the heat fluxes(especially latent heat flux) considerably during a typhoon passage. Consequently,the model results with heat fluxes enhanced by sea spray simulate better the cooling process of the SST and upper-layer temperature profiles. Additionally,results from the simulation of the passage of typhoon Soulik(that passed KEO quickly),which included the sea spray effect,were better than for the simulated passage of typhoon Yagi(that crossed KEO slowly). These promising 1-D results could provide insight into the application of sea spray in general circulation models for typhoon studies.
Upper ocean heat content is a factor critical to the intensity change of tropical cyclones(TCs). Because of the inhomogeneity of in situ observations in the North Indian Ocean,gridded temperature/salinity(T/S) profiles were derived from satellite data for 1993–2012 using a linear regression method. The satellite derived T/S dataset covered the region of 10°S–32°N,25°–100°E with daily temporal resolution,0.25°×0.25° spatial resolution,and 26 vertical layers from the sea surface to a depth of 1 000 m at standard layers. Independent Global Temperature Salinity Profile Project data were used to validate the satellite derived T/S fields. The analysis confirmed that the satellite derived temperature field represented the characteristics and vertical structure of the temperature field well. The results demonstrated that the vertically averaged root mean square error of the temperature was 0.83 in the upper 1 000 m and the corresponding correlation coefficient was 0.87,which accounted for 76% of the observed variance. After verification of the satellite derived T/S dataset,the TC heat potential(TCHP) was verified. The results show that the satellite derived values were coherent with observed TCHP data with a correlation coefficient of 0.86 and statistical significance at the 99% confidence level. The intensity change of TC Gonu during a period of rapid intensification was studied using satellite derived TCHP data. A delayed effect of the TCHP was found in relation to the intensity change of Gonu,suggesting a lag feature in the response of the inner core of the TC to the ocean.
To further explore enthalpy-based sea-ice assimilation, a one-dimensional （1D） enthalpy sea-ice model is implemented into a simple pycnocline prediction model. The 1D enthalpy sea-ice model includes the physical processes such as brine expulsion, flushing, and salt diffusion. After being coupled with the atmosphere and ocean components, the enthalpy sea-ice model can be integrated stably and serves as an important modulator of model variability. Results from a twin experiment show that the sea-ice data assimilation in the enthalpy space can produce smaller root-mean-square errors of model variables than the traditional scheme that assimilates the observations of ice concentration, especially for slow-varying states. This study provides some insights into the improvement of sea-ice data assimilation in a coupled general circulation model.
The climate modulation on the sea surface height （SSH） in China seas is investigated using a China Ocean Reanalysis （CORA） dataset from 1958-2008. The dataset is constructed by assimilating the temperature/salinity profiles derived from the satellite altimetry data and historical observational temperature/salinity profiles. Based on the Empirical Orthogonal Function （EOF）, the CORA sea surface height anomaly （SSHa） is decomposed, and the interannual and decadal variability of the first three leading modes are analyzed. On the interannual timescale, the first principal component （PC1） is significant positively correlated with the E1 Nifio/Southern Oscillation （ENSO）. On the decadal timescale, North Pacific Gyre Oscillation （NPGO） has significant negative correlation with PC 1 whereas Pacific Decadal Oscillation （PDO） is in phase with PC3. Analysis shows that the decadal variability of SSH is mainly modulated by the wind stress curl variability related to the NPGO and PDO. In addition, the effect of net heat flux associated to the NPGO and PDO on SSH is also investigated, with net heat flux variability in the Luzon strait and tropic Pacific found to influence the decadal variability of SSH.
A new regional ocean reanalysis over multiple decades （1958 2008） for the coastal waters of China and adjacent seas has been completed by the National Marine Data and Information Service （NMD[S） under the CORA （China Ocean ReAnalysis） project. Evaluations were performed on three aspects： （1） the improvement of general reanalysis quality; （2） eddy structures; and （3） decadal variability of sea surface height anomalies （SSHAs）. Results showed that the quality of the new reanalysis has been enhanced beyond ~40% （39% for temperature, 44% for salinity） in terms of the reduction of root mean squared errors （RMSEs） for which the reanalysis values were compared to observed values in the observational space. Compared to the trial version released to public in 2009, the new reanalysis is able to reproduce more detailed eddy structures as seen in satellite and in situ observations. EOF analysis of the reanalysis SSHAs showed that the new reanalysis reconstructs the leading modes of SSHAs much better than the old version. These evaluations suggest that the new CORA regional reanalysis represents a much more useful dataset for the community of the coastal waters of China and adjacent seas.
The first version of a global ocean reanalysis over multiple decades （1979-2008） has been completed by the National Marine Data and Information Service within the China Ocean Reanalysis （CORA） project. The global ocean model employed is based upon the ocean general circulation model of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A sequential data assimilation scheme within the framework of 3D variational （3DVar） analysis, called multi-grid 3DVar, is implemented in 3D space for retrieving multiple-scale observational information. Assimilated oceanic observations include sea level anomalies （SLAs） from multi-altimeters, sea surface temperatures （SSTs） from remote sensing satellites, and in-situ temperature/salinity profiles. Evaluation showed that compared to the model simulation, the annual mean heat content of the global reanalysis is significantly approaching that of World Ocean Atlas 2009 （WOA09） data. The quality of the global temperature climatology was found to be comparable with the product of Simple Ocean Data Assimilation （SODA）, and the major ENSO events were reconstructed. The global and Atlantic meridional overturning circulations showed some similarity as SODA, although significant differences were found to exist. The analysis of temperature and salinity in the current version has relatively larger errors at high latitudes and improvements are ongoing in an updated version. CORA was found to provide a simulation of the subsurface current in the equatorial Pacific with a correlation coefficient beyond about 0.6 compared with the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean （TAO） mooring data. The mean difference of SLAs between altimetry data and CORA was less than 0.1 m in most years.
