2016 journal article

Storm impact on sea surface temperature and chlorophyll a in the Gulf of Mexico and Sargasso Sea based on daily cloud-free satellite data reconstructions

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 43(23), 12199–12207.

By: T. Shropshire *, Y. Li * & R. He  n

author keywords: storm; sea surface temperature; surface chl a; northwest Atlantic ocean
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
13. Climate Action (Web of Science)
14. Life Below Water (Web of Science; OpenAlex)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018

AbstractUpper ocean responses to tropical storms/hurricanes have been extensively studied using satellite observations. However, resolving concurrent sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll a (chl a) responses along storm tracks remains a major challenge due to extensive cloud coverage in satellite images. Here we produce daily cloud‐free SST and chl a reconstructions based on the Data INterpolating Empirical Orthogonal Function method over a 10 year period (2003–2012) for the Gulf of Mexico and Sargasso Sea regions. Daily reconstructions allow us to characterize and contrast previously obscured subweekly SST and chl a responses to storms in the two main storm‐impacted regions of the Atlantic Ocean. Statistical analyses of daily SST and chl a responses revealed regional differences in the response time as well as the response sensitivity to maximum sustained wind speed and translation speed. This study demonstrates that SST and chl a responses clearly depend on regional ocean conditions and are not as universal as might have been previously suggested.