The mixed layer is the upper portion of the surface layer where active air–sea exchanges generate surface turbulence which causes the water to mix and become vertically uniform in temperature and salinity.
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- The surface layer of the ocean, known as the ocean mixed layer, is approximately 200 meters (656 feet) deep on average. This layer is constantly exchanging gases with the atmosphere and experiencing mixing caused by winds, heat transfer, evaporation.
- A new study published in Earth’s Future, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, finds the ocean mixed layer deepened along tropical cyclone tracks by 1.7–2.0 meters from 2002-2015, while other factors changed only marginally. The authors conclude this deepening could be responsible for the uptick in intense typhoons from 1980 to 2015, and they project the increase of intense typhoons will continue at a greater rate than previously projected in the coming decades
- Changes to the uppermost layer of Earth’s oceans due to rising temperatures are likely causing an increase in intense Pacific Ocean typhoons, suggesting strong typhoons may occur more frequently than scientists project in the coming decades, according to new research.
- Intense typhoons, like 2013’s Super Typhoon Haiyan, are classified based on high wind speeds, often of 130 mph or more.
- Typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, and scientists have noticed an increase in the proportion of intense typhoons occurring each season in the Pacific Ocean since the 1980s but have not been able to explain why.
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