Re‐Intensification of Seafalling Tropical Cyclones

ABSTRACT The study of tropical cyclones re‐entering the ocean or making ‘seafall’ has been limited. Here, idealised simulations are used to study the re‐intensification of seafalling tropical cyclones. They follow a two‐stage fast‐slow process driven predominately by a change in surface friction initially and then by heating. The previous land decay causes seafalling tropical cyclones to be larger and intensify more slowly with milder inner‐core contraction than in ocean‐only cases. Nonetheless, they reach the same intensity but with almost twice the integrated kinetic energy, so that the second landfall made by seafalling tropical cyclones can cause more damage due to their larger footprint of destructive wind.