scholarly journals Estimating Met-Ocean Parameters during a Tropical Cyclone for Marine Science and Engineering

2021 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Shih-Ang Hsu ◽  
◽  

During a tropical cyclone (TC) worldwide, the Regional and Mesoscale Meteorological Branch (RAMMB) of NOAA/NESDIS (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/) issues real-time TC surface wind analyses. The purpose of this article is to provide value-added estimations of several meteorological and oceanographic (met-ocean) parameters including overwater friction velocity and turbulence intensity, variation of the wind speed with height, significant wave height, peak or dominant wave period, wind-driven currents and wind-stress tides. Since these proposed value-added parameters are also validated by other independent methods available from the literature, these met-ocean parameters may be used for marine science and engineering including offshore energy (such as oil, gas and wind power) research, development, operation and maintenance.

MRS Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (31-32) ◽  
pp. 1673-1679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moraima De Hoyos-Ruperto ◽  
Cristina Pomales-García ◽  
Agnes Padovani ◽  
O. Marcelo Suárez

ABSTRACTThere is a need to expand the fundamental skills in science and engineering to include innovation & entrepreneurship (I&E) skills as core competencies. To better prepare the future Nanotechnology workforce, the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez Nanotechnology Center, broadened the educational content beyond traditional skills in science and engineering. The Center, offers a rich educational program for materials and nano scientists that aims to create the next generation of knowledgeable, experienced professionals, and successful entrepreneurs, who can develop value-added innovations that can spur economic growth and continue to impact the quality of life for society. Within the educational program an Entrepreneurship Education Co-Curricular Program (EEP) incorporates I&E training into the Materials Science, Nanotechnology, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) faculty and student experiences. The EEP consists of a two-year series of workshops that seek to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, including five key topics: 1) Generation of Ideas, 2) Entrepreneurial Vision, 3) Early Assessment of Ideas, 4) Identification of Opportunities, and 5) Strategic Thinking. The EEP goals, target audience, and implementation strategy, is described with an evaluation tool to assess the program’s success in developing an entrepreneurial mindset.


2021 ◽  
Vol 149 (5) ◽  
pp. 1517-1534
Author(s):  
Benjamin Jaimes de la Cruz ◽  
Lynn K. Shay ◽  
Joshua B. Wadler ◽  
Johna E. Rudzin

AbstractSea-to-air heat fluxes are the energy source for tropical cyclone (TC) development and maintenance. In the bulk aerodynamic formulas, these fluxes are a function of surface wind speed U10 and air–sea temperature and moisture disequilibrium (ΔT and Δq, respectively). Although many studies have explained TC intensification through the mutual dependence between increasing U10 and increasing sea-to-air heat fluxes, recent studies have found that TC intensification can occur through deep convective vortex structures that obtain their local buoyancy from sea-to-air moisture fluxes, even under conditions of relatively low wind. Herein, a new perspective on the bulk aerodynamic formulas is introduced to evaluate the relative contribution of wind-driven (U10) and thermodynamically driven (ΔT and Δq) ocean heat uptake. Previously unnoticed salient properties of these formulas, reported here, are as follows: 1) these functions are hyperbolic and 2) increasing Δq is an efficient mechanism for enhancing the fluxes. This new perspective was used to investigate surface heat fluxes in six TCs during phases of steady-state intensity (SS), slow intensification (SI), and rapid intensification (RI). A capping of wind-driven heat uptake was found during periods of SS, SI, and RI. Compensation by larger values of Δq > 5 g kg−1 at moderate values of U10 led to intense inner-core moisture fluxes of greater than 600 W m−2 during RI. Peak values in Δq preferentially occurred over oceanic regimes with higher sea surface temperature (SST) and upper-ocean heat content. Thus, increasing SST and Δq is a very effective way to increase surface heat fluxes—this can easily be achieved as a TC moves over deeper warm oceanic regimes.


Abstract The evolution of the tropical cyclone boundary layer (TCBL) wind field before landfall is examined in this study. As noted in previous studies, a typical TCBL wind structure over the ocean features a supergradient boundary layer jet to the left of motion and Earth-relative maximum winds to the right. However, the detailed response of the wind field to frictional convergence at the coastline is less well known. Here, idealized numerical simulations reveal an increase in the offshore radial and vertical velocities beginning once the TC is roughly 200 km offshore. This increase in the radial velocity is attributed to the sudden decrease in frictional stress once the highly agradient flow crosses the offshore coastline. Enhanced advection of angular momentum by the secondary circulation forces a strengthening of the supergradient jet near the top of the TCBL. Sensitivity experiments reveal that the coastal roughness discontinuity dominates the friction asymmetry due to motion. Additionally, increasing the inland roughness through increasing the aerodynamic roughness length enhances the observed asymmetries. Lastly, a brief analysis of in-situ surface wind data collected during the landfall of three Gulf of Mexico hurricanes is provided and compared to the idealized simulations. Despite the limited in-situ data, the observations generally support the simulations. The results here imply that assumptions about the TCBL wind field based on observations from over horizontally-homogeneous surface types - which have been well-documented by previous studies - are inappropriate for use near strong frictional heterogeneity.


Author(s):  
Yuqing Wang ◽  
Yuanlong Li ◽  
Jing Xu

AbstractIn this study, the boundary-layer tangential wind budget equation following the radius of maximum wind, together with an assumed thermodynamical quasi-equilibrium boundary layer is used to derive a new equation for tropical cyclone (TC) intensification rate (IR). A TC is assumed to be axisymmetric in thermal wind balance with eyewall convection becoming in moist slantwise neutrality in the free atmosphere above the boundary layer as the storm intensifies as found recently based on idealized numerical simulations. An ad-hoc parameter is introduced to measure the degree of congruence of the absolute angular momentum and the entropy surfaces. The new IR equation is evaluated using results from idealized ensemble full-physics axisymmetric numerical simulations. Results show that the new IR equation can reproduce the time evolution of the simulated TC intensity. The new IR equation indicates a strong dependence of IR on both TC intensity and the corresponding maximum potential intensity (MPI). A new finding is the dependence of TC IR on the square of the MPI in terms of the near-surface wind speed for any given relative intensity. Results from some numerical integrations of the new IR equation also suggest the finite-amplitude nature of TC genesis. In addition, the new IR theory is also supported by some preliminary results based on best-track TC data over the North Atlantic and eastern and western North Pacific. Compared with the available time-dependent theories of TC intensification, the new IR equation can provide a realistic intensity-dependent IR during weak intensity stage as in observations.


Atmosphere ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Yu Wang ◽  
Corene J. Matyas

This study examined whether varying moisture availability and roughness length for the land surface under a simulated Tropical Cyclone (TC) could affect its production of precipitation. The TC moved over the heterogeneous land surface of the southeastern U.S. in the control simulation, while the other simulations featured homogeneous land surfaces that were wet rough, wet smooth, dry rough, and dry smooth. Results suggest that the near-surface atmosphere was modified by the changes to the land surface, where the wet cases have higher latent and lower sensible heat flux values, and rough cases exhibit higher values of friction velocity. The analysis of areal-averaged rain rates and the area receiving low and high rain rates shows that simulations having a moist land surface produce higher rain rates and larger areas of low rain rates in the TC’s inner core. The dry and rough land surfaces produced a higher coverage of high rain rates in the outer regions. Key differences among the simulations happened as the TC core moved over land, while the outer rainbands produced more rain when moving over the coastline. These findings support the assertion that the modifications of the land surface can influence precipitation production within a landfalling TC.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-22
Author(s):  
Journal of Marine Science Engineering Editorial Office

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kunsheng Xiang ◽  
Xiaofeng Yang ◽  
Miao Zhang ◽  
Ziwei Li ◽  
Fanping Kong

A method of estimating tropical cyclone (TC) intensity based on Haiyang-2A (HY-2A) scatterometer, and Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Sounder (SSMIS) observations over the northwestern Pacific Ocean is presented in this paper. Totally, 119 TCs from the 2012 to 2017 typhoon seasons were selected, based on satellite-observed data and China Meteorological Administration (CMA) TC best track data. We investigated the relationship among the TC maximum-sustained wind (MSW), the microwave brightness temperature (TB), and the sea surface wind speed (SSW). Then, a TC intensity estimation model was developed, based on a multivariate linear regression using the training data of 96 TCs. Finally, the proposed method was validated using testing data from 23 other TCs, and its root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and bias were 5.94 m/s, 4.62 m/s, and −0.43 m/s, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 905-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy L. Olander ◽  
Christopher S. Velden

Abstract The advanced Dvorak technique (ADT) is used operationally by tropical cyclone forecast centers worldwide to help estimate the intensity of tropical cyclones (TCs) from operational geostationary meteorological satellites. New enhancements to the objective ADT have been implemented by the algorithm development team to further expand its capabilities and precision. The advancements include the following: 1) finer tuning to aircraft-based TC intensity estimates in an expanded development sample, 2) the incorporation of satellite-based microwave information into the intensity estimation scheme, 3) more sophisticated automated TC center-fixing routines, 4) adjustments to the intensity estimates for subtropical systems and TCs undergoing extratropical transition, and 5) addition of a surface wind radii estimation routine. The goals of these upgrades and others are to provide TC analysts/forecasters with an expanded objective guidance tool to more accurately estimate the intensity of TCs and those storms forming from, or converting into, hybrid/nontropical systems. The 2018 TC season is used to illustrate the performance characteristics of the upgraded ADT.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minsang Kim ◽  
Myung-Sook Park ◽  
Jungho Im ◽  
Seonyoung Park ◽  
Myong-In Lee

This study compared detection skill for tropical cyclone (TC) formation using models based on three different machine learning (ML) algorithms-decision trees (DT), random forest (RF), and support vector machines (SVM)-and a model based on Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). Eight predictors were derived from WindSat satellite measurements of ocean surface wind and precipitation over the western North Pacific for 2005–2009. All of the ML approaches performed better with significantly higher hit rates ranging from 94 to 96% compared with LDA performance (~77%), although false alarm rate by MLs is slightly higher (21–28%) than that by LDA (~13%). Besides, MLs could detect TC formation at the time as early as 26–30 h before the first time diagnosed as tropical depression by the JTWC best track, which was also 5 to 9 h earlier than that by LDA. The skill differences across MLs were relatively smaller than difference between MLs and LDA. Large yearly variation in forecast lead time was common in all models due to the limitation in sampling from orbiting satellite. This study highlights that ML approaches provide an improved skill for detecting TC formation compared with conventional linear approaches.


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