Declining tropical cyclone frequency under global warming
- Chand, Savin, Walsh, Kevin, Camargo, Suzana, Kossin, James, Tory, Kevin, Wehner, Michael, Chan, Johnny, Klotzbach, Philip, Dowdy, Andrew, Bell, Samuel, Ramsay, Hamish, Murakami, Hiroyuki
- Authors: Chand, Savin , Walsh, Kevin , Camargo, Suzana , Kossin, James , Tory, Kevin , Wehner, Michael , Chan, Johnny , Klotzbach, Philip , Dowdy, Andrew , Bell, Samuel , Ramsay, Hamish , Murakami, Hiroyuki
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nature Climate Change Vol. 12, no. 7 (2022), p. 655-661
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Assessing the role of anthropogenic warming from temporally inhomogeneous historical data in the presence of large natural variability is difficult and has caused conflicting conclusions on detection and attribution of tropical cyclone (TC) trends. Here, using a reconstructed long-term proxy of annual TC numbers together with high-resolution climate model experiments, we show robust declining trends in the annual number of TCs at global and regional scales during the twentieth century. The Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) dataset is used for reconstruction because, compared with other reanalyses, it assimilates only sea-level pressure fields rather than utilize all available observations in the troposphere, making it less sensitive to temporal inhomogeneities in the observations. It can also capture TC signatures from the pre-satellite era reasonably well. The declining trends found are consistent with the twentieth century weakening of the Hadley and Walker circulations, which make conditions for TC formation less favourable. © 2022, The Author(s).
- Authors: Chand, Savin , Walsh, Kevin , Camargo, Suzana , Kossin, James , Tory, Kevin , Wehner, Michael , Chan, Johnny , Klotzbach, Philip , Dowdy, Andrew , Bell, Samuel , Ramsay, Hamish , Murakami, Hiroyuki
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nature Climate Change Vol. 12, no. 7 (2022), p. 655-661
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Assessing the role of anthropogenic warming from temporally inhomogeneous historical data in the presence of large natural variability is difficult and has caused conflicting conclusions on detection and attribution of tropical cyclone (TC) trends. Here, using a reconstructed long-term proxy of annual TC numbers together with high-resolution climate model experiments, we show robust declining trends in the annual number of TCs at global and regional scales during the twentieth century. The Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) dataset is used for reconstruction because, compared with other reanalyses, it assimilates only sea-level pressure fields rather than utilize all available observations in the troposphere, making it less sensitive to temporal inhomogeneities in the observations. It can also capture TC signatures from the pre-satellite era reasonably well. The declining trends found are consistent with the twentieth century weakening of the Hadley and Walker circulations, which make conditions for TC formation less favourable. © 2022, The Author(s).
Projections of southern hemisphere tropical cyclone track density using CMIP5 models
- Bell, Samuel, Chand, Savin, Tory, Kevin, Dowdy, Andrew, Turville, Christopher, Ye, Harvey
- Authors: Bell, Samuel , Chand, Savin , Tory, Kevin , Dowdy, Andrew , Turville, Christopher , Ye, Harvey
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Climate Dynamics Vol. 52, no. 9-10 (2019), p. 6065-6079
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: A recently validated algorithm for detecting and tracking tropical cyclones (TCs) in coarse resolution climate models was applied to a selected group of 12 models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to assess potential changes in TC track characteristics in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) due to greenhouse warming. Current-climate simulations over the period 1970–2000 are first evaluated against observations using measures of TC genesis location and frequency, as well as track trajectory and lifetime in seven objectively defined genesis regions. The 12-model (12-M) ensemble showed substantial skill in reproducing a realistic TC climatology over the evaluation period. To address potential biases associated with model interdependency, analyses were repeated with an ensemble of five independent models (5-M). Results from both the 12-M and 5-M ensembles were very similar, instilling confidence in the models for climate projections if the current TC-climate relationship is to remain stationary. Projected changes in TC track density between the current- and future-climate (2070–2100) simulations under the Representatives Concentration 8.5 Pathways (RCP8.5) are also assessed. Overall, projection results showed a substantial decrease (~ 1–3 per decade) in track density over most parts of the SH by the end of the twenty-first century. This decrease is attributed to a significant reduction in TC numbers (~ 15–42%) consistent with changes in large-scale environmental parameters such as relative vorticity, environmental vertical wind shear and relative humidity. This study may assist with adaption pathways and implications for regional-scale climate change for vulnerable regions in the SH.
- Authors: Bell, Samuel , Chand, Savin , Tory, Kevin , Dowdy, Andrew , Turville, Christopher , Ye, Harvey
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Climate Dynamics Vol. 52, no. 9-10 (2019), p. 6065-6079
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: A recently validated algorithm for detecting and tracking tropical cyclones (TCs) in coarse resolution climate models was applied to a selected group of 12 models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) to assess potential changes in TC track characteristics in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) due to greenhouse warming. Current-climate simulations over the period 1970–2000 are first evaluated against observations using measures of TC genesis location and frequency, as well as track trajectory and lifetime in seven objectively defined genesis regions. The 12-model (12-M) ensemble showed substantial skill in reproducing a realistic TC climatology over the evaluation period. To address potential biases associated with model interdependency, analyses were repeated with an ensemble of five independent models (5-M). Results from both the 12-M and 5-M ensembles were very similar, instilling confidence in the models for climate projections if the current TC-climate relationship is to remain stationary. Projected changes in TC track density between the current- and future-climate (2070–2100) simulations under the Representatives Concentration 8.5 Pathways (RCP8.5) are also assessed. Overall, projection results showed a substantial decrease (~ 1–3 per decade) in track density over most parts of the SH by the end of the twenty-first century. This decrease is attributed to a significant reduction in TC numbers (~ 15–42%) consistent with changes in large-scale environmental parameters such as relative vorticity, environmental vertical wind shear and relative humidity. This study may assist with adaption pathways and implications for regional-scale climate change for vulnerable regions in the SH.
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