The Brown Ocean Effect

  • Released Thursday, October 5th, 2017
  • Updated Wednesday, November 15th, 2023 at 12:11AM
  • ID: 4587

Before Tropical Storm Bill made landfall over Texas, eastern Texas experienced several days of rain that began flooding areas to the south east and northern parts of the state. As Tropical Storm Bill moved northward through Texas it is hypothesized that it fed off the highly saturated ground (as if it were still over the ocean) and can be seen slightly intensifying (via winds) as it moved into Oklahoma and progressed to the northeast.

In several regions of the world, tropical cyclones have been known to maintain or increase strength after landfall without transitioning to extratropical systems. It is hypothesized that these inland areas help sustain tropical cyclones when there has been plentiful rainfall, leading to unusually wet soil and strong latent heat release. Additionally, given the symmetric structure of warm-core cyclones, the atmosphere should tend toward barotropic conditions that mimic an ocean environment. Observational and modeling studies support this "brown ocean" concept, providing a global climatology of inland tropical cyclones, pinpointing regions that are more favorable for re-intensification, and analyzing individual cyclones to better understand the associated land-atmosphere feedbacks.

Color bar for liquid precipitation rates (ie, rain rates). Shades of green represent low amounts of liquid precipitation, whereas shades of red represent high amounts of precipitation.

Color bar for liquid precipitation rates (ie, rain rates). Shades of green represent low amounts of liquid precipitation, whereas shades of red represent high amounts of precipitation.

Colorbar for soil moisture, where areas in red have little soil moisture and areas in blue are wet.

Colorbar for soil moisture, where areas in red have little soil moisture and areas in blue are wet.

Colorbar for accumulated precipitation beginning June 16, 2016.

Colorbar for accumulated precipitation beginning June 16, 2016.

Print resolution still of Tropical Storm Bill on June 17, 2015 showing winds, IMERG precipitation, cloud cover, and soil moisture.

Print resolution still of Tropical Storm Bill on June 17, 2015 showing winds, IMERG precipitation, cloud cover, and soil moisture.

Print resolution image of Tropical Storm Bill on June 17, 2015 showing winds, accumulated precipitation (beginning on June 16, 2015 when it made landfall), and cloud cover.

Print resolution image of Tropical Storm Bill on June 17, 2015 showing winds, accumulated precipitation (beginning on June 16, 2015 when it made landfall), and cloud cover.

Print resolution still showing the accumulated precipitation from Tropical Storm Bill from the time it made landfall on June 16, 2015 until June 19, 2015.

Print resolution still showing the accumulated precipitation from Tropical Storm Bill from the time it made landfall on June 16, 2015 until June 19, 2015.

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NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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