Estimation of maximum seasonal tropical cyclone damage in the Atlantic using climate models

Sally L. Lavender (), Kevin J. E. Walsh, Steven Utembe, Louis-Philippe Caron and Mark Guishard
Additional contact information
Sally L. Lavender: University of Southern Queensland
Kevin J. E. Walsh: University of Melbourne
Steven Utembe: University of Melbourne
Louis-Philippe Caron: Barcelona Supercomputing Centre
Mark Guishard: Bermuda Airport Authority

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2022, vol. 110, issue 2, No 8, 1025-1038

Abstract: Abstract There are several different estimates of the observed cyclone damage potential of tropical cyclones based on observations of size, intensity and track. For the analysis of climate model data, previous work identified an index, the cyclone damage potential climate index (CDPClimate), based on relative sea surface temperature (SST) and tropical cyclone steering flow to estimate the damage potential in climate models. Using millennia-long climate models, CDPClimate is estimated for the North Atlantic basin and compared against values from reanalyses and the observed damage potential. The peak in SSTs in the cyclone main development region with respect to the tropical mean SSTs is smaller in these models than reanalyses, resulting in smaller variations in CDPClimate. Although the year 1995 had the highest observed cyclone damage potential, the year 2010 is a maximum for CDPClimate in the reanalysis data. The models exceed this 2010 value in less than 1% of model years. Using a model with 100 ensemble members, the variability in CDPClimate is examined further. The interannual variability of the ensemble mean results has a very high correlation (R = 0.95) with reanalyses. The high decadal variability is evident and interannual variability is found to have increased during the 30 years after 1981 relative to those prior. The 2010 ensemble mean value is exceeded in other years by individual ensemble members 1.1% of the time. The results from this study suggest that although it is possible to exceed the observed CDP, this is rare in the current climate. However, this study does not consider changes as we move to future climates.

Keywords: Tropical cyclones; North Atlantic; Damage potential; Climate models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-021-04977-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:110:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s11069-021-04977-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-021-04977-2

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().