Séminaire
Development of an array of autonomous floats (ARGO) moving freely in the oceans provides us with new tool to investigate air-sea interactions even in the most severe conditions. We matched ARGO and Tropical Cyclone Best Tracks databases. Comparisons between profiles taken before and after TC passages show changes in the upper ocean in terms of surface fluxes and turbulent mixing. I will focus on typhoons Hagupit and Jangmi observed in the Western Pacific in September of 2008 during the Tropical Cyclone Structure field experiment. High repetition ARGO float were used in this case. I will present changes in temperature and salinity structure as well as comparison with thermistor chain drifters and idealized ocean model numerical studies. Matching ARGO vs best track gives over 3000 pairs of undisturbed-disturbed profiles in the last 10 years in all basins where tropical cyclones are active. I will present climatology of changes of the mixed layer temperature, mixed layer depth and ocean heat content in such cases.