Air-sea interaction around the warm and cold eddies in low wind conditions within the eddy-rich zone of the Northwestern Pacific

Abstract

An air-sea interaction field campaign was conducted in September of 2017 within the warm and cold eddy region of the Northwest Pacific. Observations indicate that the bulk and turbulent latent heat flux (LHF) under modest wind conditions reached 400W/m2 within the vicinity of a warm eddy. Both near-surface oceanic and atmospheric conditions in addition to ocean heat content were examined in order to better understand the mechanisms governing high heat flux magnitudes responsible for rapidly intensifying typhoons. Results from this study illustrate that both the wind-normalized LHF and the difference between the specific humidity at 10m and the sea surface, closely correlate with ocean heat content (OHC) patterns. Analysis of OHC and air-sea conditions near warm and cold eddy features suggests that the primary factor impacting LHF magnitude is strongly linked to wind direction in the experimental area, that is, the drier northwesterly flow and southeasterly moist wind.