Unveiling the history and nature of paleostorms in the Holocene

Abstract

Tropical and extratropical cyclones have a profound impact on coastal morphology, ecosystems, and human lives. Given the ongoing global warming and the rising coastal populations, it is an urgent task to evaluate their impact on coastal regions ranging from low to high latitudes. Although the observation records show both significant and insignificant changes in tropical cyclone activity over recent decades, detecting long-term trends and attributing them to anthropogenic warming remains challenging due to the relatively short observation records and substantial natural variability. Paleotempestology is an emerging research field to reveal past storm activity prior to observation records based on geological, geomorphological, and biological records. This review summarizes the current progress and challenges of paleotempestology and provides insight into the response of storm activity to climate variability in the Holocene. Integrating interdisciplinary perspectives from geology, paleoclimatology, and numerical climate modeling, this review underscores the non-stationarity of storm activity, which is intricately related to climate variability through diverse mechanisms in each basin. Exploring the links and discrepancies between paleotempestological, paleoclimate, and modeling studies improves our understanding of the relationship between climate environment and storm activity.