Oceanic Responses to the Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 in the Gulf of Mexico from In Situ and Satellite Observations
Winter storms occur in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) every few years, but there are not many studies on oceanic responses to severe winter storms. Although usually considered less destructive than hurricanes, they can result in cumulative damages. Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 (WSO21), the most...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2072-4292/15/12/2967/ 2023-08-20T04:05:00+02:00 Oceanic Responses to the Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 in the Gulf of Mexico from In Situ and Satellite Observations Zhankun Wang Korak Saha Ebenezer S. Nyadjro Yongsheng Zhang Boyin Huang James Reagan agris 2023-06-07 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15122967 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Ocean Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs15122967 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Remote Sensing; Volume 15; Issue 12; Pages: 2967 Gulf of Mexico cold spell Winter Storm Uri convective mixing surface heat flux satellite observations in situ observations chlorophyll a Arctic outbreak ice storm Text 2023 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15122967 2023-08-01T10:23:18Z Winter storms occur in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) every few years, but there are not many studies on oceanic responses to severe winter storms. Although usually considered less destructive than hurricanes, they can result in cumulative damages. Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 (WSO21), the most intense winter storm to impact Texas and the GoM in 30 years, passed over the western GoM and brought severe cold to the GoM coastal regions, which caused a sudden cooling of the ocean surface, resulting in an extensive loss of marine life. In this study, we analyze multiple datasets from both in situ and satellite observations to examine the oceanic changes due to WSO21 in order to improve our understanding of oceanic responses to winter storms. Although the pre-storm sea surface temperature (SST) was 1–2 °C warmer than normal, severe coastal cold spells caused a significant cooling of the order of −3 °C to −5 °C during WSO21 and a −1 °C average cooling in the mixed layer (ML) over the western GoM. Net surface heat loss played a primary role in the upper ocean cooling during WSO21 and explained more than 50% of the cooling that occurred. Convective mixing due to surface cooling and turbulent mixing induced by enhanced wind speeds significantly increase the surface ML in the western GoM. Apart from rapid changes in SST and heat fluxes due to air-sea interactions, persistent upwelling brings nutrients to the surface and can produce coastal “winter” blooms along the Texas and Mexico coast. Prominent salinity increases along the coastal regions during and after WSO21 were another indicator of wind-induced coastal upwelling. Our study demonstrates the utility of publicly-available datasets for studying the impact of winter storms on the ocean surface. Text Arctic MDPI Open Access Publishing Arctic Remote Sensing 15 12 2967 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
Gulf of Mexico cold spell Winter Storm Uri convective mixing surface heat flux satellite observations in situ observations chlorophyll a Arctic outbreak ice storm |
spellingShingle |
Gulf of Mexico cold spell Winter Storm Uri convective mixing surface heat flux satellite observations in situ observations chlorophyll a Arctic outbreak ice storm Zhankun Wang Korak Saha Ebenezer S. Nyadjro Yongsheng Zhang Boyin Huang James Reagan Oceanic Responses to the Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 in the Gulf of Mexico from In Situ and Satellite Observations |
topic_facet |
Gulf of Mexico cold spell Winter Storm Uri convective mixing surface heat flux satellite observations in situ observations chlorophyll a Arctic outbreak ice storm |
description |
Winter storms occur in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) every few years, but there are not many studies on oceanic responses to severe winter storms. Although usually considered less destructive than hurricanes, they can result in cumulative damages. Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 (WSO21), the most intense winter storm to impact Texas and the GoM in 30 years, passed over the western GoM and brought severe cold to the GoM coastal regions, which caused a sudden cooling of the ocean surface, resulting in an extensive loss of marine life. In this study, we analyze multiple datasets from both in situ and satellite observations to examine the oceanic changes due to WSO21 in order to improve our understanding of oceanic responses to winter storms. Although the pre-storm sea surface temperature (SST) was 1–2 °C warmer than normal, severe coastal cold spells caused a significant cooling of the order of −3 °C to −5 °C during WSO21 and a −1 °C average cooling in the mixed layer (ML) over the western GoM. Net surface heat loss played a primary role in the upper ocean cooling during WSO21 and explained more than 50% of the cooling that occurred. Convective mixing due to surface cooling and turbulent mixing induced by enhanced wind speeds significantly increase the surface ML in the western GoM. Apart from rapid changes in SST and heat fluxes due to air-sea interactions, persistent upwelling brings nutrients to the surface and can produce coastal “winter” blooms along the Texas and Mexico coast. Prominent salinity increases along the coastal regions during and after WSO21 were another indicator of wind-induced coastal upwelling. Our study demonstrates the utility of publicly-available datasets for studying the impact of winter storms on the ocean surface. |
format |
Text |
author |
Zhankun Wang Korak Saha Ebenezer S. Nyadjro Yongsheng Zhang Boyin Huang James Reagan |
author_facet |
Zhankun Wang Korak Saha Ebenezer S. Nyadjro Yongsheng Zhang Boyin Huang James Reagan |
author_sort |
Zhankun Wang |
title |
Oceanic Responses to the Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 in the Gulf of Mexico from In Situ and Satellite Observations |
title_short |
Oceanic Responses to the Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 in the Gulf of Mexico from In Situ and Satellite Observations |
title_full |
Oceanic Responses to the Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 in the Gulf of Mexico from In Situ and Satellite Observations |
title_fullStr |
Oceanic Responses to the Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 in the Gulf of Mexico from In Situ and Satellite Observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Oceanic Responses to the Winter Storm Outbreak of February 2021 in the Gulf of Mexico from In Situ and Satellite Observations |
title_sort |
oceanic responses to the winter storm outbreak of february 2021 in the gulf of mexico from in situ and satellite observations |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15122967 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Remote Sensing; Volume 15; Issue 12; Pages: 2967 |
op_relation |
Ocean Remote Sensing https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs15122967 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15122967 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
2967 |
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