SGER: Testing the Tropical Cyclone-Induced Ocean Heat Pump Hypothesis in CCSM

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This proposal will use funds, under the auspices of the Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) program, to examine whether vertical mixing in the upper tropical oceans can be incorporated into global climate models. Vertical mixing performs an important role in the modern day climate by affecting surface energy budgets, ocean meridional overturning circulation, ocean heat transport, and primary productivity. In general, the research is generally founded on the current scientific discussion surrounding the plausibility of increased greenhouse gas warming causing increased ocean temperatures that spawn more intense and more frequent hurricanes and cyclones. Specifically, the researcher will run a sensitivity study on a global ocean model using cyclone winds and the ocean component of NCAR's CCSM (Community Climate System Model) version 3.0. The researcher will merge wind fields data (representing tropical cyclone winds the Japanese Reanalysis Project 25 Year reanalysis data set) with standard ocean model forcing data. The goal is to diagnose the impacts of this mixing on upper ocean tracer fields (i.e., temperature, salinity, ideal age) as well as on other relevant variables such as mixed layer depth, meridional overturning stream function, and ocean heat transport. In addition, cyclone wind fields will be varied by constant factors to establish the parametric dependence of ocean mixing on cyclone intensity.