Abstract

Hurricane Florence made landfall over the Carolinas 14 September 2018, bringing over 30 inches of rainfall. What remains understudied is the possible storm re-intensification by wet and warm antecedent soil moisture (ASM), known as the Brown Ocean Effect (BOE). This study investigates this effect with two approaches: (a) two satellite-Based soil moisture (SM) data and (b) model simulation. the averaged Cyclone Global Navigation System and Soil Moisture Active Passive SM enables examination of land-atmosphere interaction at a sub-daily scale. Both observations and simulation results manifest positive feedback between ASM and rainfall intensity, with 3 days prior to landfall being the typical antecedent time scale. Wet (dry) ASM lead to intense (light) and concentrated (widespread) rains. We also found that soil temperature can modulate the BOE. This study aims to advance our understanding of land-atmosphere feedback and calls to acquire accurate antecedent land states to enhance forecast skills.

Department(s)

Biological Sciences

Publication Status

Open Access

Comments

National Science Foundation, Grant 2228004

Keywords and Phrases

Brown ocean effect; CYGNSS; SMAP; storm re-intensification

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1944-8007; 0094-8276

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 Wiley; American Geophysical Union, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publication Date

16 Oct 2023

Included in

Biology Commons

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