Atmospheric Drivers of Oceanic North Swells in the Eastern Caribbean
Large wintertime ocean swells in the Caribbean, known as north swells, generate high surf and expose communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure to hazardous conditions. Empirical orthogonal functions and cluster analyses using ERA5 reanalysis swell data are performed to characterize north swells in...
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2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10020183 https://doaj.org/article/8a2d586e89c14797aa18cb0fd4b3980f |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8a2d586e89c14797aa18cb0fd4b3980f 2023-05-15T17:29:14+02:00 Atmospheric Drivers of Oceanic North Swells in the Eastern Caribbean Timothy W. Hawkins Isabelle Gouirand Theodore Allen Ali Belmadani 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10020183 https://doaj.org/article/8a2d586e89c14797aa18cb0fd4b3980f EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/10/2/183 https://doaj.org/toc/2077-1312 doi:10.3390/jmse10020183 2077-1312 https://doaj.org/article/8a2d586e89c14797aa18cb0fd4b3980f Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Vol 10, Iss 183, p 183 (2022) ocean swell mid-latitude cyclone storm track Caribbean North Atlantic reanalysis Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering VM1-989 Oceanography GC1-1581 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10020183 2022-12-31T15:12:59Z Large wintertime ocean swells in the Caribbean, known as north swells, generate high surf and expose communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure to hazardous conditions. Empirical orthogonal functions and cluster analyses using ERA5 reanalysis swell data are performed to characterize north swells in the eastern Caribbean and to establish a ranked list of historical events. ERA5 atmospheric and swell data are used to create basin-scale sea-level pressure, surface wind and swell composites for north swell events of different magnitudes. Additionally, storm events are identified in the mid-latitude North Atlantic Ocean. North swells are predominantly generated by storms that intensify off the North American east coast. However, there is a subset of moderately sized swells associated with a westward-located high-pressure system in the North Atlantic. While lower sea-level pressure and stronger surface winds are important for generating larger swells, the location of the low-pressure center and storm track as well the zonal speed of the storm are critical in the development of large eastern Caribbean north swells. The largest such events are associated with storms located comparatively further southeast, with a more zonal trajectory, and slower zonal speed. Large storms located further northwest, with a more southwest to northeast trajectory, and faster zonal speeds are associated with weaker north swells or in many cases, no significant north swell in the eastern Caribbean. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 10 2 183 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ocean swell mid-latitude cyclone storm track Caribbean North Atlantic reanalysis Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering VM1-989 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
spellingShingle |
ocean swell mid-latitude cyclone storm track Caribbean North Atlantic reanalysis Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering VM1-989 Oceanography GC1-1581 Timothy W. Hawkins Isabelle Gouirand Theodore Allen Ali Belmadani Atmospheric Drivers of Oceanic North Swells in the Eastern Caribbean |
topic_facet |
ocean swell mid-latitude cyclone storm track Caribbean North Atlantic reanalysis Naval architecture. Shipbuilding. Marine engineering VM1-989 Oceanography GC1-1581 |
description |
Large wintertime ocean swells in the Caribbean, known as north swells, generate high surf and expose communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure to hazardous conditions. Empirical orthogonal functions and cluster analyses using ERA5 reanalysis swell data are performed to characterize north swells in the eastern Caribbean and to establish a ranked list of historical events. ERA5 atmospheric and swell data are used to create basin-scale sea-level pressure, surface wind and swell composites for north swell events of different magnitudes. Additionally, storm events are identified in the mid-latitude North Atlantic Ocean. North swells are predominantly generated by storms that intensify off the North American east coast. However, there is a subset of moderately sized swells associated with a westward-located high-pressure system in the North Atlantic. While lower sea-level pressure and stronger surface winds are important for generating larger swells, the location of the low-pressure center and storm track as well the zonal speed of the storm are critical in the development of large eastern Caribbean north swells. The largest such events are associated with storms located comparatively further southeast, with a more zonal trajectory, and slower zonal speed. Large storms located further northwest, with a more southwest to northeast trajectory, and faster zonal speeds are associated with weaker north swells or in many cases, no significant north swell in the eastern Caribbean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Timothy W. Hawkins Isabelle Gouirand Theodore Allen Ali Belmadani |
author_facet |
Timothy W. Hawkins Isabelle Gouirand Theodore Allen Ali Belmadani |
author_sort |
Timothy W. Hawkins |
title |
Atmospheric Drivers of Oceanic North Swells in the Eastern Caribbean |
title_short |
Atmospheric Drivers of Oceanic North Swells in the Eastern Caribbean |
title_full |
Atmospheric Drivers of Oceanic North Swells in the Eastern Caribbean |
title_fullStr |
Atmospheric Drivers of Oceanic North Swells in the Eastern Caribbean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Atmospheric Drivers of Oceanic North Swells in the Eastern Caribbean |
title_sort |
atmospheric drivers of oceanic north swells in the eastern caribbean |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10020183 https://doaj.org/article/8a2d586e89c14797aa18cb0fd4b3980f |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Vol 10, Iss 183, p 183 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/10/2/183 https://doaj.org/toc/2077-1312 doi:10.3390/jmse10020183 2077-1312 https://doaj.org/article/8a2d586e89c14797aa18cb0fd4b3980f |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10020183 |
container_title |
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
183 |
_version_ |
1766122881305018368 |