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Tropical to extratropical: Marine environmental changes associated with Superstorm Sandy prior to its landfall
Author(s) -
Zambon Joseph B.,
He Ruoying,
Warner John C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl061357
Subject(s) - extratropical cyclone , storm , climatology , environmental science , hindcast , sea surface temperature , storm track , tropical cyclone , atmosphere (unit) , oceanography , atmospheric sciences , geology , meteorology , geography
Superstorm Sandy was a massive storm that impacted the U.S. East Coast on 22–31 October 2012, generating large waves, record storm surges, and major damage. The Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere‐Wave‐Sediment Transport modeling system was applied to hindcast this storm. Sensitivity experiments with increasing complexity of air‐sea‐wave coupling were used to depict characteristics of this immense storm as it underwent tropical to extratropical transition. Regardless of coupling complexity, model‐simulated tracks were all similar to the observations, suggesting the storm track was largely determined by large‐scale synoptic atmospheric circulation, rather than by local processes resolved through model coupling. Analyses of the sea surface temperature, ocean heat content, and upper atmospheric shear parameters showed that as a result of the extratropical transition and despite the storm encountering much cooler shelf water, its intensity and strength were not significantly impacted. Ocean coupling was not as important as originally thought for Sandy.