Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Observational evidence for an ocean heat pump induced by tropical cyclones

Nature volume 447, pages 577–580 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Ocean mixing affects global climate and the marine biosphere because it is linked to the ocean’s ability to store and transport heat1 and nutrients2. Observations have constrained the magnitude of upper ocean mixing associated with certain processes3,4, but mixing rates measured directly3,5 are significantly lower than those inferred from budget analyses6, suggesting that other processes may play an important role. The winds associated with tropical cyclones are known to lead to localized mixing of the upper ocean7,8,9, but the hypothesis that tropical cyclones are important mixing agents at the global scale10 has not been tested. Here we calculate the effect of tropical cyclones on surface ocean temperatures by comparing surface temperatures before and after storm passage, and use these results to calculate the vertical mixing induced by tropical cyclone activity. Our results indicate that tropical cyclones are responsible for significant cooling and vertical mixing of the surface ocean in tropical regions. Assuming that all the heat that is mixed downwards is balanced by heat transport towards the poles, we calculate that approximately 15 per cent of peak ocean heat transport may be associated with the vertical mixing induced by tropical cyclones. Furthermore, our analyses show that the magnitude of this mixing is strongly related to sea surface temperature, indicating that future changes in tropical sea surface temperatures may have significant effects on ocean circulation and ocean heat transport that are not currently accounted for in climate models.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Maps of tropical cyclone effects on the upper ocean.
Figure 2: Potential cyclone-induced climate interactions with vertical ocean mixing.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wunsch, C. & Ferrari, R. Vertical mixing, energy, and the general circulation of the oceans. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 36, 281–314 (2004)

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Lin, W. et al. New evidence for enhanced ocean primary production triggered by tropical cyclone. Geophys. Res. Lett. 30 doi: 10.1029/2003GL017141 (2003)

  3. Gregg, M. C., Sanford, T. B. & Winkel, D. P. Reduced mixing from the breaking of internal waves in equatorial waters. Nature 422, 513–515 (2003)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Alford, M. H. Redistribution of energy available for ocean mixing by long-range propagation of internal waves. Nature 423, 159–163 (2003)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ledwell, J. R., Watson, A. J. & Law, C. S. Evidence for slow mixing across the pycnocline from an open-ocean tracer-release experiment. Nature 364, 701–703 (1993)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Schneider, E. K. & Bhatt, U. S. A dissipation integral with application to ocean diffusivities and structure. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 30, 1158–1171 (2000)

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. Price, J. F. Upper ocean response to a hurricane. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 11, 153–175 (1981)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Jacob, S. D., Shay, L. K., Mariano, A. J. & Black, P. G. The 3D oceanic mixed layer response to Hurricane Gilbert. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 30, 1407–1429 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. D’Asaro, E. A. The ocean boundary below Hurricane Dennis. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 33, 561–579 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Emanuel, K. A. The contribution of tropical cyclones to the oceans’ meridional heat transport. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 14771–14782 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Dalan, F., Stone, P. H., Kamenkovich, I. V. & Scott, J. R. Sensitivity of the oceans’ climate to diapycnal diffusivity in an EMIC. Part I: Equilibrium state. J. Clim. 18, 2460–2481 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Raymond, D. J. et al. EPIC2001 and the coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 85, 1341–1354 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Naveira Garabato, A. C., Polzin, K. L., King, B. A., Heywood, K. J. & Visbeck, M. Widespread intense turbulent mixing in the Southern Ocean. Science 303, 210–213 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Scott, J. R. & Marotzke, J. The location of diapycnal mixing and the meridional overturning circulation. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 32, 3578–3595 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Nof, D. & Van Gorder, S. Upwelling into the thermocline of the Pacific ocean. Deep-sea Res. I 47, 2317–2340 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Nof, D. & Van Gorder, S. A different perspective on the export of water from the south Atlantic. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 29, 2285–2302 (1999)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. McWilliams, J. C., Danabasoglu, G. & Gent, P. R. Tracer budgets in the warm water sphere. Tellus A 48, 179–192 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Bugnion, V., Hill, C. & Stone, P. H. An adjoint analysis of the meridional overturning circulation in an ocean model. J. Clim. 19, 3732–3750 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Oakey, N. S. & Greenan, B. J. W. Mixing in a coastal environment: 2. A view from microstructure measurements. J. Geophys. Res. 109 C10014 doi: 10.1029/2003JC002193 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Boos, W. R., Scott, J. R. & Emanuel, K. A. Transient diapycnal mixing and the meridional overturning circulation. J. Phys. Oceanogr. 34, 334–341 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Zedler, S. E. et al. Analyses and simulations of the upper ocean’s response to Hurricane Felix at the Bermuda testbed mooring site: 13–23 August 1995. J. Geophys. Res. 107 doi: 10.1029/2001JC000969 (2002)

  22. Emanuel, K. A. A simple model of multiple climate regimes. J. Geophys. Res. 107 doi: 10.1029/2001JD001002 (2002)

  23. Emanuel, K. A. Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years. Nature 436, 686–688 (2005)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Sriver, R. L. & Huber, M. Low frequency variability in globally integrated tropical cyclone power dissipation. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33 L11705 doi: 10.1029/2006GL026167 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Levitus, S., Antonov, J. I., Boyer, T. P. & Stephens, C. Warming of the world ocean. Science 287, 2225–2229 (2000)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Ganachaud, A. & Wunsch, C. Large-scale ocean heat and freshwater transports during the world ocean circulation experiment. J. Clim. 16, 696–705 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Korty, R. L., Emanuel, K. A. & Scott, J. R. Tropical cyclone-induced upper ocean mixing and climate: application to equable climates. J. Clim. (submitted).

  28. Shay, L. K. & Jacob, S. D. Relationship between oceanic energy fluxes and surface winds during tropical cyclone passage. In Atmosphere-Ocean Interactions Vol. 2 (WIT Press, Southampton, UK, in the press).

  29. Herweijer, C., Seager, R., Winton, M. & Clement, A. Why ocean heat transport warms the global mean climate. Tellus A 57, 662–675 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Sluijs, A. et al. Subtropical Arctic ocean temperatures during the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum. Nature 441, 610–613 (2006)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank E. Schneider and K. Emanuel for diffusivity values (used in Fig. 2a) and hurricane track data, respectively. ERA-40 data were provided by the Data Support Section of the Scientific Computing Division at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). NCAR is supported by the NSF. NCEP reanalysis data were provided by the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their website at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov. TMI data are produced by Remote Sensing Systems and sponsored by the NASA Earth Science REASoN DISCOVER Project. Data are available at http://www.remss.com. NODC_WOA98 data were provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their website at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov. M.H.’s research is supported by the NSF, the Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue Cyber Center, and Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP).

Author Contributions R.L.S. and M.H. contributed equally to the writing, data analysis and ideas in this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,,

    Ryan L. Sriver & Matthew Huber

  2. Purdue Climate Change Research Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA,

    Matthew Huber

Authors
  1. Ryan L. Sriver
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matthew Huber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew Huber.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Reprints and permissions information is available at www.nature.com/reprints. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Notes, Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Figures S1-S6 with Legends and additional references. The Supplementary Information presents additional material supporting conclusions, interpretations, and implications referenced in the main text. Also, previous results are highlighted, methods section is expanded and error analysis is discussed. (PDF 38196 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sriver, R., Huber, M. Observational evidence for an ocean heat pump induced by tropical cyclones. Nature 447, 577–580 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05785

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05785

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing