Mesoscale Model Investigation of Air-sea Interactions and Associated Tropical Cyclone Activity over the Gulf of Mexico

Previous studies (Reddy and Miller, 1987; Reddy et.al., 1998) established a strong relationship between ocean-atmospheric interactions and the formation and development of tropical cyclones/hurricanes over the Gulf of Mexico using satellite and buoy data. They identified that ocean-atmospheric interactions play a dominant role in exchanging heat, momentum and moisture fluxes during the tropical cyclone intensity change. In the present study, we investigate the above findings observed during formation and development of the hurricane Opal which occurred during October 2-4, 1995, using the MM5 and Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Models. We develop MM5/WRF model using data assimilation techniques to simulate the surface features and air-sea interactions associated with the Hurricane Opal. The results will be presented and discussed.