Sea Spray Impacts on Intensifying Midlatitude Cyclones

Abstract

Abstract Air–sea transfer processes over the ocean strongly affect how hurricanes develop. High winds generate large amounts of sea spray, which can modify the transfer of momentum, heat, and moisture across the air–sea interface. However, the extent to which sea spray can modify extratropical or midlatitude hurricanes and intense cyclones has not been resolved. This paper reports simulations of extratropical Hurricanes Earl (1998) and Danielle (1998) and an intense winter cyclone from January 2000 using a mesoscale atmospheric model and a recent sea spray parameterization. These simulations show that sea spray can increase the sea surface heat flux, especially the latent heat flux, in a midlatitude cyclone and that sea spray’s impact on cyclone intensity depends on the storm structure and development and is strongest for cyclones with high winds.