Near- and super-inertial internal wave responses and the associated energy transfer after the passage of tropical cyclone Fitow at a midlatitude shelf slope

Abstract Observations from a mooring station at the East China Sea (ECS) shelf slope revealed both near- and superinertial dynamic responses to tropical cyclone (TC) Fitow. Different from the typical near-inertial response, near-inertial internal waves (NIWs) after TC Fitow showed a complicated phase pattern due to its superposition with parametric subharmonic instability (PSI)-generated M 1 subharmonic waves. The wind-injected near-inertial kinetic energy (NIKE) was largely restrained to the upper 250 m. Wave packet analysis revealed the co-occurrence of enhanced NIKE, circularly polarized near-inertial currents, veering NIW propagation direction, and shrinking NIW vertical wavenumber at the base of the Kuroshio (∼180 m). This indicated the trapping and stalling of the TC-generated NIWs. Intense high-frequency internal waves (HFIWs) appeared immediately after TC Fitow which had an average period of ∼24 min and lasted ∼8 h. HFIWs also existed before the arrival of TC Fitow with a regular semidiurnal cycle. However, the HFIW after TC did not follow the semidiurnal cycle and had much larger amplitudes and longer-lasting periods. Local generation of supercritical flow over a slope or evolution from propagating internal tide as modified by TC may have induced these HFIWs. Along with the occurrence of intense HFIWs after TC Fitow, intense energy transfers from NIWs to HFIWs were identified. Due to the limited vertical propagation of TC-induced NIWs, it was the PSI-generated M 1 subharmonic wave rather than the wind-induced NIW that contributed most to the energy transfer. Significance Statement Winds blowing over the ocean generate not only surface waves but also another type, so-called internal waves, which can travel down into the ocean. These internal waves carry a large amount of wind-injected energy into the ocean interior and are thought to play an important role in sustaining ocean turbulent mixing and circulation. We provided evidence that the passage of a tropical cyclone (TC) can induce different types of internal wave responses: near-inertial and high-frequency internal waves. Interactions and energy transfer between different internal waves occurred. With the TC-induced near-inertial internal waves trapped in the upper ocean, the background M 1 subharmonic waves contributed most to the interactions with high-frequency internal waves. This fact is crucial in understanding the propagation and dissipation of wind-injected energy in the ocean, which plays an important role in controlling the ocean interior mixing and large-scale circulation.