PENG et al. (2026) A Global Surface Turbulence Heat Flux Dataset resolving tropical cyclones

Identification

• Journal: Earth system science data
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-04
• Authors: WenXi PENG, Zhanhong Ma, Deyuan Zhang, Hexin Ye, Jianfang Fei
• DOI: 10.5194/essd-18-6421-2026

Research Groups

• College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, China
• European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)

Short Summary

This study presents a new global surface turbulence heat flux dataset (GHFD) that resolves tropical cyclones with improved accuracy. The GHFD is generated using satellite and reanalysis data, combined with the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) best track data and TC-wind merged CCMP product.

Objective

• Investigate the surface turbulence heat flux under high wind speed conditions, particularly in tropical cyclones.
• Develop a new dataset that accurately represents the energy transfer between the atmosphere and ocean during TC events.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global (0.25° × 0.25° resolution)
• Temporal Scale: Daily from 1993 to 2023

Methodology and Data

• Models used: COARE 3.6 algorithm, IBTrACS best track data, TC-wind merged CCMP product.
• Data sources: Satellite (OISST, Copernicus Marine), reanalysis (ERA5), observation (buoyed data from Maoming station).

Main Results

• The GHFD dataset shows improved accuracy in resolving TCs compared to other heat flux products.
• Surface latent and sensible heat flux increase significantly with increasing TC intensity.
• The peak magnitude of surface latent heat flux reaches over 600 W m−2 at cat 5, while the magnitude of sensible heat flux reaches 70 W m−2.

Contributions

• This study provides a new global surface turbulence heat flux dataset that accurately represents energy transfer between the atmosphere and ocean during TC events.
• The GHFD dataset can be used to improve our understanding of air-sea interactions during TCs and contribute to the development of more accurate climate models.

Funding

• National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 42475011 and 42192552)
• Innovation Research Foundation of National University of Defense Technology (Innovation Research Foundation of NUDT)

Citation

@article{PENG2026Global,
  author = {PENG, WenXi and Ma, Zhanhong and Zhang, Deyuan and Ye, Hexin and Fei, Jianfang},
  title = {A Global Surface Turbulence Heat Flux Dataset resolving tropical cyclones},
  journal = {Earth system science data},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.5194/essd-18-6421-2026},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-6421-2026}
}