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Responses of tropical cyclones (TCs) to CO2 doubling are explored using coupled global climate models (GCMs) with increasingly refined atmospheric/land horizontal grids (~ 200 km, ~ 50 km and ~ 25 km). The three models exhibit similar changes in background climate fields thought to regulate TC activity, such as relative sea surface temperature (SST), potential intensity, and wind shear. However, global TC frequency decreases substantially in the 50 km model, while the 25 km model shows no significant change. The ~ 25 km model also has a substantial and spatially-ubiquitous increase of Category 3–4–5 hurricanes. Idealized perturbation experiments are performed to understand the TC response. Each model’s transient fully-coupled 2 × CO2 TC activity response is largely recovered by “time-slice” experiments using time-invariant SST perturbations added to each model’s own SST climatology. The TC response to SST forcing depends on each model’s background climatological SST biases: removing these biases leads to a global TC intensity increase in the ~ 50 km model, and a global TC frequency increase in the ~ 25 km model, in response to CO2-induced warming patterns and CO2 doubling. Isolated CO2 doubling leads to a significant TC frequency decrease, while isolated uniform SST warming leads to a significant global TC frequency increase; the ~ 25 km model has a greater tendency for frequency increase. Global TC frequency responds to both (1) changes in TC “seeds”, which increase due to warming (more so in the ~ 25 km model) and decrease due to higher CO2 concentrations, and (2) less efficient development of these“seeds” into TCs, largely due to the nonlinear relation between temperature and saturation specific humidity.

Previous studies have documented that surface wind speed (u) has been increasing over the ocean but decreasing over land for the past several decades. The decreasing u at the surface over land has been referred to as terrestrial stilling. A plausible hypothesis for terrestrial stilling is an increase in surface roughness associated with changes in land surface (e.g. enhanced vegetation growth, landscape fragmentation or urbanization). One of the most widespread land surface changes is enhanced vegetation leaf area index (LAI) known as greening, particularly over the middle to high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere where strong stilling is observed from weather station data. In this study, we examine the hypothesis that enhanced vegetation LAI is a key driver of global terrestrial stilling. We first characterized the trend in u over the ocean using long-term satellite altimeter measurements, and the trend in u over land using continuous wind records from 4305 in situ meteorological stations. We then performed initial condition ensemble Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project-type simulations using two state-of-the-art Earth system models (IPSL-CM and CESM) to isolate the response of u to the historical increase in LAI (representing the greening) for the period 1982-2011. Both models, forced with observed sea surface temperature and sea ice and with LAI from satellite observation, captured the observed strengthening of Pacific trade winds and Southern Ocean westerly winds. However, these simulations did not reproduce the weakening of surface winds over land as significantly as it appears in the observations (-0.006 m s -1 versus -0.198 m s -1 during 1982-2011), indicating that enhanced LAI (greening) is not a dominant driver for terrestrial stilling.

The climatology of tropical cyclone flooding in the Carolinas is analyzed through annual flood peak observations from 411 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauging stations. Tropical cyclones (TCs) account for 28% of the top 10 annual flood peaks, 55% of record floods, and 91% of floods with peak magnitudes at least 5 times greater than the 10-yr floods, highlighting the prominent role of TCs for flood extremes in the Carolinas. Of all TC-related flood events, the top 10 storms account for nearly 1/3 of annual flood peaks and more than 2/3 of record floods, reflecting the dominant role of a small number of storms in determining the upper tail of flood peak distributions. Analyses of the 10 storms highlight both common elements and diversity in storm properties that are responsible for flood peaks. Extratropical transition and orographic enhancement are important elements of extreme TC flooding in the Carolinas. Analyses of the Great Flood of 1916 highlight the flood peak of 3115 m3 s−1 in French Broad River at Asheville, 2.6 times greater than the second-largest peak from a record of 124 years. We also examine the hydroclimatology, hydrometeorology, and hydrology of flooding from Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018). Results point to contrasting storm properties for the two events, including tracks as well as rainfall distribution and associated physical mechanisms. Climatological analyses of vertically integrated water vapor transport (IVT) highlight the critical role of anomalous moisture transport from the Atlantic Ocean in producing extreme rainfall and flooding over the Carolinas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Riverine flooding associated with landfalling tropical cyclones (TCs) in the western North Pacific basin is responsible for some of the most severe socioeconomic losses in East Asian countries. However, little is known about the spatial and temporal patterns of TC flooding and its climate controls, which constrain the predictive understandings of flood risk in this highly populated region. We provide a climatological characterization of TC flooding over China based on an exceptional network of stream gauging stations across the entire country. The most extreme floods in central and northeastern China are associated with TCs despite infrequent TC visits in these regions. Temporal variations in TC flooding demonstrate a mixture of controls tied to surface temperature anomalies in the northern hemisphere. The established links between TC flooding and climate controls present a potentially predictive tool of TC flood risk over China and other East Asian countries under future climate conditions. Plain Language Summary: Riverine flooding associated with landfalling tropical cyclones is responsible for some of the most severe socioeconomic losses all around the globe. This is a particularly critical issue for East Asian countries that lie on the margin of western North Pacific, the most active ocean in generating tropical cyclones. In this study, we investigate spatial and temporal variations of riverine flooding triggered by landfalling tropical cyclones across China. Our results show that the most extreme floods in central and northeastern China are associated with tropical cyclones, even though very few tropical cyclones affect this area. Surface temperature anomalies in both the Pacific and Atlantic regions determine the number of generated tropical cyclones, spatial pattern of tracks, and moisture transport. These combined effects, which can be well depicted using selected climate indices that represent large‐scale variability of the Earth's system, lead to temporal variations in the total number of flood peaks triggered by landfalling tropical cyclones across China. We establish relationships between these climate indices and the number of flood peaks induced by tropical cyclones over China and its subregions. These relationships can be used to project flood risk associated with these storms for other East Asian countries under a future climate. Key Points: Synchronized seasonality of rainfall and TC frequency plays a role in determining severe TC flood risk in central and northeastern ChinaHigh TC flood risk in China is tied to combined temperature anomalies in central tropical Pacific, western North Pacific and north AtlanticWe highlight challenges of potentially predictive tools of flood risk across China [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]