Surface heat fluxes of tropical cyclones from satellite data sets and reanalyses

The representation of air-sea heat flux exchange during a tropical cyclone is of importance for accurate modeling of the atmosphere or ocean. These events, although transitory, play a fundanmental role in the subseasonal to seasonal flux climatologies of the basin. Thus understanding how the differing flux climatologies and model reanalyses represent these fluxes provides insights towards understanding their basic climatological state.

The SeaFlux data set, derived mainly from SSM/I and Pathfinder SST, demonstrates improved retrievals of near surface specific humidity and air temperature, particularly in regions of high moisture content. In this talk we will present comparisons of several different flux climatology sensible and latent heat fluxes during tropical cyclones, including the SeaFlux, HOAPS, GSSTF, OAflux, and JOFURO satellite data sets. These will be compared with the CBLAST results, and also compared with NCEP2, MERRA, and ERA40 reanalysis products. Improvements in the SeaFlux analysis due to the improved air temperature and near-surface specific humidity retrievals will be highlighted with respect to variations in fluxes during the tropical cyclones. The difference in subseasonal, monthly, and seasonal surface heat flux statistics in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico basins from the differing data sets will be analyzed as a function of the representation of these extreme events. Lastly, the effects of the differences in the surface forcing fields on the upper ocean will be analyzed through the use of a high resolution three dimensional ocean model.