Extended Data Fig. 4: Comparison of sea surface temperature cooling induced by tropical cyclones between drifter and microwave satellite composites.
From: Weak self-induced cooling of tropical cyclones amid fast sea surface warming
a, Composites of sea surface temperature (SST) cooling based on drifter observations from 2 days before (Day_−2) to 5 days after (Day_+5) tropical cyclone passage in the northern hemisphere. Black dots denote recorded tropical cyclone locations. On Day_0, star denotes tropical cyclones reaching the recorded locations, arrow denotes the cyclone’s moving direction, and dashed circle denotes the inner-core area. b,c, Same as (a), but based on projected and gridded microwave satellite observations, respectively. d,e, Same as (a), but for cooling bias estimated from projected and gridded microwave satellite observations, respectively. Microwave satellites can accurately capture cold wakes 2–3 days after tropical cyclones, but struggle to observe inner-core cooling during tropical cyclones. Consistency between composites based on projected and gridded microwave satellite observations suggests that drifter sampling can be used to statistically characterize the tropical cyclone-induced cooling.
