Investigating the Physical Drivers for the Increasing Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Hazard in the United States

Abstract

In this study, we investigate both the changes of tropical cyclone (TC) rainfall hazard in the United States under climate change and the relative importance of the factors that cause the changes. We find that under the SSP5 8.5 scenario, the 100‐year TC rainfall level can increase by up to 320% along the U.S. coastline by the end of this century. The influence of TC rainfall‐producing ability increase is more significant than the influence of TC frequency increase on the increase of the 100‐year TC rainfall level (up to 180% vs. 60% increase). Among the different physical drivers for the increase in storm rainfall‐producing ability, the increase of TC intensity is the leading factor, followed by changes in TC duration and atmospheric temperature. The projected increase of TC rainfall hazard is robust against the uncertainty in the TC frequency projection.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 11, 2022
Source ID
10.1029/2022gl099196

Entities

People

  • Dazhi Xi
  • Ning Lin

Organizations

  • National Science Foundation
  • Princeton University
  • United States Department of Defense

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Economics
  • Munitions and Ordnance Engineering
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers