Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change: An Assessment

WMO Expert Team on Climate Change Impacts on

Tropical Cyclones

February 2010

World Weather Research Programme Working Group on Tropical Meteorology Research

Expert Team Members:John McBride, Co-Chair Center for Australian Weather and Climate Research, Melbourne, Australia

Tom Knutson, Co-Chair Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory/NOAA, Princeton, USA

Johnny Chan University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Kerry Emanuel Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA

Greg Holland National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, USA

Chris Landsea National Hurricane Center/NOAA, Miami, USA

Isaac Held Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory/NOAA, USA

Jim Kossin National Climatic Data Center/NOAA, Madison, USA

A.K. Srivastava India Meteorological Department, Pune, India

Masato Sugi Research Institute for Global Change/JAMSTEC, Yokohama, Japan

SUMMARY ASSESSMENT:

Detection and Attribution:

It remains uncertain whether past changes in any tropical cyclone activity (frequency, intensity, rainfall, etc.) exceed the variability expected through natural causes, after accounting for changes over time in observing capabilities.

* => Significant at p=0.05

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Are there significant long-term trends in Atlantic basin tropical storm counts?

Progress has been made in developing dynamical and statistical/dynamical models for seasonal tropical cyclone frequency.

Left: examples for the Atlantic basin, using high resolution atmospheric models running with observed SSTs; regional dynamical downscaling models; and statistical/dynamical techniques.

These models reproduce key aspects of observed past tropical cyclone variability.

Simulating past variability in Atlantic tropical cyclone activity

SUMMARY ASSESSMENT:

Tropical Cyclone Projections: Frequency

It is likely that the global frequency of tropical cyclones will either decrease or remain essentially unchanged due to greenhouse warming. We have very low confidence in projected changes in individual basins. Current models project changes ranging from -6 to -34% globally, and up to ± 50% or more in individual basins by the late 21st century.

A significant statistical correlation exists between Atlantic TC power dissipation and SST since 1950 (top).

A comparable correlation exists between the power dissipation and the tropical Atlantic SST relative to mean tropical SST (bottom).

These two statistical relations lead to dramatically different ‘projections’ of late 21st century Atlantic TC activity, ranging from a dramatic ~300% increase to little change. The large (~300%) increase scenario is not supported by existing downscaling models (symbols).

Atlantic Hurricane Acitivity vs. Sea Surface Temperature

Projections of late 21st century Atlantic hurricane frequency depend strongly on the particular climate model used to provide the large-scale climate change projections for the downscaling model.

Future TC Projections: Dependence on Climate Model

SUMMARY ASSESSMENT:

Tropical Cyclone Projections: Intensity

Some increase in mean tropical cyclone maximum wind speed is likely (+2 to +11% globally) with projected 21st century warming, although increases may not occur in all tropical regions. The frequency of the most intense (rare/high-impact) storms will more likely than not increase by a substantially larger percentage in some basins.

Tropical Cyclone Frequency Projections: Higher Intensity Storms

Blue = decrease

Red = increase

SUMMARY ASSESSMENT:

Tropical Cyclone Projections: Rainfall

Tropical cyclone rainfall rates are likely to increase. The projected magnitude is on the order of +20% within 100 km of the tropical cyclone center.

Tropical Cyclone Precipitation Rate Projections

Blue = decrease

Red = increase

SUMMARY ASSESSMENT:

Tropical Cyclone Projections: Genesis, Tracks, Duration, and Surge Flooding

We have low confidence in projected changes in genesis location, tracks, duration, or areas of impact. Existing model projections do not show dramatic large-scale changes in these features. The vulnerability of coastal regions to storm surge flooding is expected to increase with future sea level rise and coastal development, although this vulnerability will also depend on future storm characteristics.

Observational, theoretical and modeling studies to assess future climate changes in tropical cyclone activity… are growing progressively more credible but still have many limitations.

Going forward, models with increasingly fine spatial resolution and new approaches for improving past tropical cyclone records hold substantial promise for reducing uncertainties in both the understanding of causes of past changes and future projections of tropical cyclone activity.

Further information: http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v3/n3/abs/ngeo779.html

Looking Ahead…

Background information: Detailed assessment tables (not complete)

Tropical Cyclones Frequency Projections (Late 21st century) - Summary

Blue = decrease

Red = increase

Tropical Cyclone Intensity Projections

Blue = decrease

Red = increase