Changes in Four Decades of Near‐CONUS Tropical Cyclones in an Ensemble of 12 km Thermodynamic Global Warming Simulations
Abstract We evaluate tropical cyclones (TCs) in a set of thermodynamic global warming (TGW) simulations over the continental United States (CONUS). A 12 km simulation forced by ERA5 provides a 40‐year historical (1980–2019) control. Four complimentary future scenarios are generated using thermodynamic deltas applied to lateral boundary, interior, and surface forcing. We curate a data set of 4,498 6‐hourly TC snapshots in the control and find a corresponding “twin” in each counterfactual, permitting a paired comparison. Warming results in an increase in mean dynamical TC intensity and moisture‐related quantities, with the latter being more pronounced. TC inner cores contract slightly but outer storm size remains unchanged. The frequency with which TCs become more intense is only moderately consistent, with snapshots having increased hazards ranging from 50% to 80% depending on warming level. The fractions of TCs undergoing rapid intensification and weakening both increase across all warming simulations, suggesting elevated short‐term intensity variability.
Authors
- Paul Ullrich (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4118-4590)
- Tyrone Zhang
- Pouya Vahmani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2519-6671)
- Deeksha Rastogi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0462-4027)
- Colin M. Zarzycki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5731-042X)
- Andrew D. Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1913-7870)
Institutions
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Published
- 2024-09-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl110535
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Tropical and Extratropical Cyclones Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.63
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Battelle
- UT-Battelle
- National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
- Office of Science
- Biological and Environmental Research
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory