The Response of Tropical Cyclone Intensity to Temperature Profile Change
- 1National Center for Atmospheric Research, 3090 Center Green Drive, Boulder, Colorado 80301, USA
- 2Willis Research Network, 51 Lime St, London, EC3M 7DQ, UK
- 3Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607, USA
- These authors contributed equally to this work.
- 1National Center for Atmospheric Research, 3090 Center Green Drive, Boulder, Colorado 80301, USA
- 2Willis Research Network, 51 Lime St, London, EC3M 7DQ, UK
- 3Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607, USA
- These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract. Theory indicates that tropical cyclone intensity should respond to changes in the vertical temperature profile. While the sensitivity of tropical cyclone intensity to sea surface temperature is well understood, less is known about sensitivity to the temperature profile. In this paper, we combine historical data analysis and idealised modelling to explore the extent to which historical tropospheric warming and lower stratospheric cooling can explain observed trends in the tropical cyclone intensity distribution. Observations and modelling agree that historical global temperature profile changes coincide with higher lifetime maximum intensities. But observations suggest the response depends on the tropical cyclone intensity itself. Historical lower- and upper-tropospheric temperatures in hurricane environments have warmed significantly faster than the tropical mean. In addition, hurricane-strength storms have intensified at twice the rate of weaker storms per unit warming at the surface and at 300-hPa. Idealized simulations respond in the expected sense to various imposed changes in the temperature profile and agree with tropical cyclones operating as heat engines. Yet lower stratospheric temperature changes have little influence. Idealised modelling further shows an increasing altitude of the TC outflow but little change in outflow temperature. This enables increased efficiency for strong tropical cyclones despite the warming upper troposphere. Observed sensitivities are generally larger than modelled sensitivities, suggesting that observed tropical cyclone intensity change responds to a combination of the temperature profile change and other environmental factors.
James M. Done et al.
Status: closed
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RC1: 'Review of wcd-2021-83', Anonymous Referee #1, 03 Feb 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://wcd.copernicus.org/preprints/wcd-2021-83/wcd-2021-83-RC1-supplement.pdf
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', James Done, 31 Mar 2022
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RC2: 'Comment on wcd-2021-83', Raphael Rousseau-Rizzi, 09 Mar 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://wcd.copernicus.org/preprints/wcd-2021-83/wcd-2021-83-RC2-supplement.pdf
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', James Done, 31 Mar 2022
Status: closed
-
RC1: 'Review of wcd-2021-83', Anonymous Referee #1, 03 Feb 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://wcd.copernicus.org/preprints/wcd-2021-83/wcd-2021-83-RC1-supplement.pdf
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', James Done, 31 Mar 2022
-
RC2: 'Comment on wcd-2021-83', Raphael Rousseau-Rizzi, 09 Mar 2022
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://wcd.copernicus.org/preprints/wcd-2021-83/wcd-2021-83-RC2-supplement.pdf
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', James Done, 31 Mar 2022
James M. Done et al.
James M. Done et al.
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