Graduation Year
2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Marine Science
Major Professor
Robert H. Weisberg, Ph.D.
Co-Major Professor
Boris Galperin, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Yonggang Liu, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Pallav K. Ray, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Jun A. Zhang, Ph.D.
Keywords
climatology, current, cyclone, intensification, ocean
Abstract
In the first chapter, a climatology was created for the deep Gulf of Mexico, West Florida Shelf, and Tampa Bay. These climatologies were compared to each other and to global temperatures. Seasonal variability is shown to be a product of bathymetry as well as latitude. In Chapter Two, using the self-organizing map neural network, patterns of the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current were analyzed to establish phases with necessary and sufficient conditions for translation from one phase to the next. Two separate patterns of evolution were established from these analyses, and empirical arguments are used to confirm the findings from the map. These patterns demonstrate how the Loop Current goes from a relaxed state where it is anchored to the Campeche Bank to shedding rings in the Gulf of Mexico to anchoring to the West Florida Shelf. In Chapter Three, Hurricane Ian (2022) was analyzed using both high frequency output from the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting Model and in situ data from the West Florida Shelf. The rapid intensification of Ian was shown to be driven by diabatic heating of the core of the storm that in turn caused an inward advection of momentum, leading to intensification. Analyses of sea temperatures on the Shelf show that the temperatures in the water were warmer than the model, which led to larger latent heat fluxes and therefore also led to higher value of diabatic heating. The final chapter connects the previous three chapters by showing how the phase of the Loop Current modulates the Shelf sea temperatures. Ian happened towards the end of a two year window between West Florida Shelf anchoring events, which led to anomalously warm waters.
Scholar Commons Citation
Nickerson, Alexander K., "Sea Surface Temperatures, the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current, Hurricane Ian, and Their Junction" (2024). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/10657
