Publication Date:
2016-10-03
Description:
This study quantifies the relative contribution of tropical cyclones (TCs) to annual, seasonal and extreme rainfall, and examines the connection between El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the occurrence of extreme TC-induced rainfall across the globe. We use historical six-hour best track TC datasets and daily precipitation data from 18607 global rain gauges with at least 25 complete years of data between 1970 and 2014. The highest TC-induced rainfall totals occur in eastern Asia (〉400 mm/year) and northeastern Australia (〉200mm/year), followed by the southeastern United States and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico (100 to 150 mm/year). Fractionally, TCs account for 35% to 50% of the mean annual rainfall in northwestern Australia, southeastern China, the northern Philippines and Baja California, Mexico. Seasonally, between 40% and 50% of TC-induced rain is recorded along the western coast of Australia and in islands of the south Indian Ocean in the austral summer, and in eastern Asia and Mexico in boreal summer and fall. In terms of extremes, using annual maximum and peak-over-threshold approaches, we find the highest proportions of TC-induced rainfall in East Asia, followed by Australia and North-Central America, with fractional contributions generally decreasing as one moves inland from the coast. The relationship between TC-induced extreme rainfall and ENSO reveals that TC-induced extreme rainfall tends to occur more frequently in Australia and along the U.S. East Coast during La Niña, and along eastern Asia and the northwestern Pacific islands during El Niño.
Print ISSN:
0894-8755
Electronic ISSN:
1520-0442
Topics:
Geography
,
Geosciences
,
Physics
Permalink