Gopalakrishnan, G., Trott, C., Cruz, E., and Subrahmanyam, B. (2025).
Understanding Ocean Surface Response to Hurricane Idalia Using SWOT Altimetry in the Gulf of Mexico
, Geophys. Res. Lett., 52, e2024GL114423, doi: 10.1029/2024GL114423.
Data Details - Edit this Record
| Type | : | |
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| Title | : | Understanding Ocean Surface Response to Hurricane Idalia Using SWOT Altimetry in the Gulf of Mexico |
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| Pub Year | : | 2025 |
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| Author(s) | : | Gopalakrishnan, G., Trott, C., Cruz, E., and Subrahmanyam, B. |
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| Source | : | Geophys. Res. Lett., 52, e2024GL114423, doi: 10.1029/2024GL114423. |
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| Pub Url | : | https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL114423 |
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| Description | : | Satellite altimeters measure fluctuations in the ocean surface remotely, which can be used to observe major current systems like the Loop Current (LC) and roughly circular flow features called Loop Current Eddies and Loop Current Frontal Eddies (LCFEs). These circulation features significantly define upper ocean processes in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). In December 2022, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission was launched, pioneering a new era of altimeters that resolve submesoscale surface ocean features. In August 2023, Hurricane Idalia formed in the Caribbean Sea and traversed northward through the northeastern GoM. Idalia ultimately grew to a major Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Florida as a Category 3. SWOT identified more small-scale features like LCFEs than conventional nadir altimeters due to its higher spatial resolution. The increased presence of LCFEs during the passage of Idalia could decrease the local sea surface temperatures due to their cold cores that correspond with regions of high chlorophyll-a and low salinity, and could eventually contribute to a decrease in Idalia's intensity. Overall, SWOT was capable of sampling fine-scale surface ocean features, thus proving its effectiveness for advancing the field of air-sea interactions during extreme weather events like hurricanes. |
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| Category | : | highlight02, ocean |
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| Preprint? | : | No |
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| Date Added | : | 2025-04-15 |
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