Seminar: Dr. Wei Mei, UC San Diego

“Ocean Influences on Tropical Cyclones” Ocean Influences on Tropical Cyclones Accurate prediction of tropical cyclones (TCs) is of great importance to human society and ecosystems. Ocean temperatures are an important predictor and influence TCs in distinct ways. Sea surface temperature (SST) affects local TC intensity by modulating air-sea heat fluxes, and influences TC statistics in remote regions via atmospheric circulation. In addition, subsurface ocean temperatures affect TC intensity by determining the strength of the cold wake. In this talk, I will show how local sea surface and subsurface temperatures together with remote SSTs control interannual-to-decadal variations in TC intensity over the northwestern Pacific. Then, high-resolution global model simulations—an emerging tool for TC research—are used to investigate how SST patterns modulate TC genesis and track density. Finally, I will discuss how to extend my research to coastal hazard and risk assessments under climate variability and change using large ensembles of high-resolution climate simulations.