Glider Observations of Upper Ocean Temperature and Dynamics During Three Hurricane Passages Through the Western Atlantic

Bermuda experienced 2 direct hits (Hurricanes Fay and Gonzalo) during the 2014 tropical season and 1 near miss (Hurricane Joaquin) in 2015. The impact of these systems on the upper ocean was detected via autonomous underwater vehicle (glider) measurements. Cross sections of temperature and density profiles in the near-surface layers reveal the development of cold wakes via Ekman pumping, and internal waves with a frequency consistent with inertial currents. In one instance, a glider lost its rudder and effectively became a profiling drifter, the path of which conformed to an inertial oscillation in the near surface waters following the hurricane's passage. These in situ glider observations of cold wake dynamics in the deep north Atlantic ocean show a depletion of upper ocean heat storage anomaly of 7 X 10⁸ J/m² within a one-week timeframe during the passage of Fay and Gonzalo in 2014.