J8.5
Response of the Coastal Ocean to Hurricanes Floyd and Irene at the South Florida Ocean Measurement Center
Alexander V. Soloviev, Nova Southeastern Univ., Dania Beach, FL; and R. H. Weisberg and M. E. Luther
Hurricanes Floyd and Irene passed near or through the NSU/USF three-dimensional monitoring array installed at the South Florida Ocean Measurement Center (SFOMC) experimental range, south of Port Everglades, Florida. The mooring array contains acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), a combination of recording temperature and temperature/ salinity sensors, a wave and water level gauge, and a meteorological package. Data from these sensors has been collected continuously since July 1999. Category 4 hurricane Floyd ravaged portions of the central and northwest Bahamas on Sept. 13-14, 1999, eventually making landfall near Cape Fear, N.C., as a Category 2 hurricane on Sept. 16. At the South Florida shelf, the local response to Hurricane Floyd was relatively weak; however, we observed a significant non-local response of the upper ocean to this hurricane. Within three days after the passage of the hurricane, the mean sea level dropped by ~0.25 m, and the along shore current reversed its direction from south to north. Category 1 Hurricane Irene passed through the mooring array on Oct. 15-16, 1999. In this case, we observed a significant local response of the coastal ocean. For a few hours, the significant wave height exceeded ~4 m at the 11-m isobath, the along shore current speed increased by ~1 knot (0.5 m/s), and the turbulence levels (as derived from boundary layer laws) increased dramatically. There were, however, no appreciable changes in sea level.
Joint Session 8, Atmospheric & Oceanic Boundary Layers on Tropical Cyclones II (Joint with the 24th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology and the 10th Conference on Interaction of the Sea and Atmosphere)
Thursday, 25 May 2000, 3:30 PM-5:30 PM
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