The team led by Professor Wang Wei, from the Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography (MOE), has made significant progress in the research on the impact of hurricanes on oceanic mesoscale eddies. Their research findings, titled “Hurricane influence on the oceanic eddies in the Gulf Stream region”, were published online in Nature Communication.

The Gulf Stream region in the North Atlantic is a critical zone for air-sea interactions, exerting significant influence on global climate, especially during the summer and autumn seasons when the vortex fields within the sea area frequently interact with hurricanes. This study, based on an analysis of the interannual variation rates of mesoscale vortex energy, indicates that hurricanes enhance cyclonic vortices by inputting vorticity into the ocean, while weakening anticyclonic vortices. This impact not only emerges immediately after the encounter of hurricanes and vortices, but can also be retained in the ocean for a long time by large vortices with long life cycles and substantial energy, making the decadal variations in the annual average energy of vortices highly correlated with hurricane intensity (Figure 1). Within a short span of six years, accompanied by a sharp increase in hurricane intensity, the energy difference between cyclonic and anticyclonic vortices in the Gulf Stream region of the North Atlantic has significantly tripled. These results indicate that hurricanes over the Gulf Stream region are key drivers of long-term changes in the ocean's vortex fields, and they will further affect ocean circulation and climate through vortices.

This study is the first to reveal the high correlation between vortex energy in the Gulf Stream region of the North Atlantic and hurricane intensity over recent decades, highlighting the significant role of hurricanes in driving changes in mesoscale ocean vortices. It offers new insights into understanding the impact of hurricanes on the dynamics of mesoscale ocean vortices.