A preliminary study on the regulatory and responsive relationship between upper and middle ocean heat content and typhoons in the northwestern Pacific based on GDCSM_Argo

As a key indicator of global climate change, ocean heat content (OHC) accurately reflects the net energy budget of the Earth system, and its spatiotemporal variations significantly influence the genesis and intensification of typhoons. Based on the long-term, multi-parameter GDCSM_Argo global ocean reanalysis dataset, this study preliminarily investigates the regulatory and responsive roles of upper- and middle-layer OHC in typhoon activity using lagged regression and correlation analysis. The results demonstrate that near-surface OHC directly modulates typhoon occurrence frequency, while middle and deep OHC sustains typhoon energy through vertical mixing, with all layers exhibiting a lagged response of 1 to 6 months to typhoon activity. The typhoon-induced “cold wake” effect significantly reduces ocean stratification stability along storm tracks, particularly in the typhoon intensification zone (10°—25°N, 120°—145°E), where areas of low Richardson number values below the mixed layer highly coincide with the position of the typhoon’s maximum wind speed. The OHC-typhoon relationship exhibits notable sensitivity to anomalous climate conditions. During El Niño events, typhoons move eastward and affect areas with deeper thermocline layers, making it easier for wind stirring to penetrate the subsurface and transport heat downwards, temporarily weakening stratification. During La Niña events, the number of typhoons increases relatively and their paths shift westward, with typhoons predominantly active in the high-heat-content western Pacific. These findings provide theoretical foundations for further research on ocean-atmosphere interaction mechanisms governing extreme weather events and validate the GDCSM_Argo reanalysis data as a robust resource for systematic air-sea interaction studies.