Rapid Intensification of Typhoon Hato (2017) over Shallow Water

Iam-Fei Pun, Johnny C. L. Chan, I.-I. Lin, Kelvin T. F. Chan, James F. Price, Dong Shan Ko, Chun-Chi Lien, Yu-Lun Wu and Hsiao-Ching Huang
Additional contact information
Iam-Fei Pun: Graduate Institute of Hydrological and Oceanic Sciences, National Central University, Taoyuan 32001, Taiwan
Johnny C. L. Chan: Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre, School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
I.-I. Lin: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Kelvin T. F. Chan: School of Atmospheric Sciences, and Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Climate Change and Natural Disaster Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China
James F. Price: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Dong Shan Ko: Oceanography Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529, USA
Chun-Chi Lien: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Yu-Lun Wu: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Hsiao-Ching Huang: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: On 23 August, 2017, Typhoon Hato rapidly intensified by 10 kt within 3 h just prior to landfall in the city of Macau along the South China coast. Hato’s surface winds in excess of 50 m s −1 devastated the city, causing unprecedented damage and social impact. This study reveals that anomalously warm ocean conditions in the nearshore shallow water (depth < 30 m) likely played a key role in Hato’s fast intensification. In particular, cooling of the sea surface temperature (SST) generated by Hato at the critical landfall point was estimated to be only 0.1–0.5 °C. The results from both a simple ocean mixing scheme and full dynamical ocean model indicate that SST cooling was minimized in the shallow coastal waters due to a lack of cool water at depth. Given the nearly invariant SST in the coastal waters, we estimate a large amount of heat flux, i.e., 1.9k W m −2 , during the landfall period. Experiments indicate that in the absence of shallow bathymetry, and thus, if nominal cool water had been available for vertical mixing, the SST cooling would have been enhanced from 0.1 °C to 1.4 °C, and sea to air heat flux reduced by about a quarter. Numerical simulations with an atmospheric model suggest that the intensity of Hato was very sensitive to air-sea heat flux in the coastal region, indicating the critical importance of coastal ocean hydrography.

Keywords: Typhoon; SST cooling; shallow water; vertical mixing; rapid intensification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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