Quantification and attribution of ocean cooling induced by the passages of typhoons Faxai (2019) and Hagibis (2019) over the same region using a high-resolution ocean model and cooling parameters

Abstract

This study quantitatively evaluated the typhoon-induced sea surface temperature (SST) cooling caused by typhoons Faxai (2019) and Hagibis (2019) using a high-resolution ocean model and the cooling parameter (Co). Faxai and Hagibis both passed over the ocean south of the eastern part of the Japanese main island, but the associated average SST decreases differed. Faxai produced a decrease of less than 2°C, whereas Hagibis produced a decrease of more than 2°C. The average Co value was 1.6 for Faxai and 3.6 for Hagibis, indicating that SST was more easily cooled by Hagibis than by Faxai, consistent with the observations. The impact of ocean conditions on the typhoon-induced SST cooling by Hagibis was 2.6 times larger than the impact by Faxai, indicating that the ocean before Hagibis passes is less hard to cool ocean than Faxai. In short, it is important for ocean cooling not only ocean conditions but also typhoon characteristics because in fact, Hagibis cooled the ocean more than Faxai. In addition, the impact of Hagibis's characteristics on the typhoon-induced SST cooling was 4.8 times larger than the impact of Faxai's characteristics. Thus, SST was more likely to cool by typhoon characteristics in the case of Hagibis. In particular, among Hagibis's characteristics, typhoon size in the horizontal direction had the most efficient effect on SST cooling. Although Co does not consider the effects of the advection of ocean water, we suggest that Co is a practical indicator for estimating SST cooling caused by a typhoon and comparing factors of typhoon-induced SST cooling in multiple cases.