Tropical Cyclone Modeling With the Inclusion of Wave-Coupled Processes: Sea Spray and Wave Turbulence

Waves critically modulate the air-sea fluxes, and upper-ocean thermodynamics in a Tropical Cyclone (TC) system. This study improves the modeling of TC intensification by incorporating non-breaking wave-induced turbulence and sea spray from breaking waves into an atmosphere-ocean-wave coupled model. Notably, wind forecast error decreased by around 10% prior to TCs' peak intensity. The positive feedback of sea spray along with compensatory negative feedback from non-breaking waves, overall enhanced TCs' intensity. These breaking and non-breaking wave-coupled processes consistently cool sea surface temperature, resulting in improvement of the modeled SST. Observed improvements in full-year TC cases ranging from Categories I to IV in this study suggest that an accurate characterization of ocean wave-coupled processes is crucial for improving TCs' intensity forecasts and advancing our understanding of severe weather events in both, the atmosphere and ocean. Tropical Cyclones (TCs), such as hurricanes and typhoons, are destructive natural disasters that can cause extensive damage. Our study focused on understanding the role of ocean waves and related processes in TCs. Through numerical modeling, we found that ocean waves, specifically breaking and non-breaking waves, have a substantial influence on TCs' intensity. Breaking waves contribute positively through the production of sea spray droplets, while non-breaking wave-induced turbulence has a compensatory negative effect, resulting in an enhancement in TCs' intensity. Incorporating both wave mechanisms into the models improved the accuracy of TCs' intensity and their underlying sea surface temperature. By highlighting the importance of ocean wave-coupled physics, we aim to enhance our understanding of TCs and improve disaster preparedness to mitigate their impacts on coastal communities. Full-year regional hindcast of Tropical Cyclones (TCs) at the North West AustraliaInclusion of wave-coupled processes improves TCs modeling, by reducing forecast errors and enhancing rapid intensification simulationsSea spray increases TC development while nonbreaking wave turbulence has the opposite effect with the first process dominating