Frequency and Intensity of Landfalling Tropical Cyclones in East Asia: Past Variations and Future Projections

Abstract

This paper presents the latest analyses and integrates results of many past studies on the spatial and temporal variations of the annual frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones (TCs) making landfall along different areas of the East Asian (EA) coast. Future projections of such variations based on the past investigations are also presented. No statistically significant trend in the number of landfalling TCs could be identified in most of the EA coastal regions, except for an increasing one in Vietnam and a decreasing one in South China. Multi-decadal as well as interannual variations in the frequency of landfalling TCs are prevalent in almost all the EA coastal regions. Only TCs making landfall in Vietnam and the Korean Peninsula showed an increase in landfall intensity, with no trend in the other regions. Nevertheless, more intense landfalling TCs were evident in most regions during the past two decades. Multidecadal variations were not observed in some regions although interannual variations remained large. Various oscillations in the atmospheric circulation and the ocean conditions can largely explain the observed changes in the frequency and intensity of landfalling TCs in different regions of the EA coast. In the future, most climate models project a decrease in the number of TCs making landfall but an increase in the intensity of these TCs in all the EA coastal regions, especially for the most intense ones.

Keywords

• landfalling tropical cyclones
• East Asia
• interannual variability
• interdecadal variability
• future projections