Observations of Hurricane Sandy from a glider mounted aquadopp profiler

The Middle Atlantic Bight (MAB) has been experienced numerous extra-tropical cyclones and hurricanes in recent years that have cauased extensive damage along the New York and New Jersey coastlines. Understanding the coastal ocean ahead of such events is critical to accurately forecasting storm intensity. On the MAB in summer temperatures can vary by over 14 °C from the surface to bottom due to the presence of the summer Cold Pool. These cold bottom waters have the potential to weaken storms as they cross the shallow continental shelf. Despite the importance of understanding the dynamics ahead of and beneath these storms observations, the extreme conditions limit our ability to observe the coastal ocean response and potential atmospheric feedbacks. In order to resolve the coastal ocean response we deployed two Teledyne-Webb Slocum gliders ahead of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the second costliest hurricane in United States history. One glider, RU23, was equipped with a Nortek Aquadopp current profiler with a custom glider transducer head. Ahead of Hurricane Sandy we two-layer cross-shelf flow consisted with a downwelling circulation. As the downwelling front was advected offshore past the glider location two-layer cross-shelf flow shifted to one-layer along-shelf flow. With the offshore advection of cold bottom water there was no available cold water to mix to the surface and reduce the impact of Hurricane Sandy as it crossed the shelf.