Atlantic tropical cyclones revisited

Abstract

Vigorous discussions have taken place recently in Eos [e.g., Mann and Emanuel, 2006; Landsea, 2007] and elsewhere [Emanuel, 2005; Webster et al., 2005; Hoyos et al., 2006; Trenberth and Shea, 2006; Kossin et al., 2007] regarding trends in North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) activity and their potential connection with anthropogenic climate change. In one study, for example [Landsea, 2007], it is argued that a substantial underestimate of Atlantic tropical cyclone counts in earlier decades arising from insufficient observing systems invalidates the conclusion that trends in TC behavior may be connected to climate change. Here we argue that such connections are in fact robust with respect to uncertainties in earlier observations.Several recent studies have investigated trends in various measures of TC activity. Emanuel [2005] showed that a measure of total power dissipation by TCs (the power dissipation index, or PDI) is highly correlated with August‐October sea surface temperatures (SST) over the main development region (MDR) for Atlantic TCs over at least the past half century. Some support for this conclusion was provided by Sriver and Ruber [2006]. Webster et al. [2005] demonstrated a statistically significant increase in recent decades in both the total number of the strongest category cyclones (categories 4 and 5) and the proportion of storms reaching hurricane intensity. Hoyos et al. [2006] showed that these increases were closely tied to warming trends in tropical Atlantic SST, while, for example, the modest decrease in vertical wind shear played a more secondary role. Kossin et al. [2007] called into question some trends in other basins, based on a reanalysis of past TC data, but they found the North Atlantic trends to be robust.