A Global View of the Landfall Characteristics of Tropical Cyclones

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This report presents a climatology of the landfall characteristics of tropical cyclones (TCs) by country. Land-falling TCs can produce strong winds, storm surges and severe flooding that may result in loss of life and widespread damages. Although historically many governments have estimated the frequency of TC landfall for their own country, less work has been undertaken from a global viewpoint. This report addresses that gap by presenting a comparative assessment that may assist global efforts toward disaster risk reduction through improved understanding of the relative level of exposure of countries to TCs. The various aspects of the climatology of TC landfalls for each country are provided. Using the definition of a TC landfall as the intersection of the TC track with a coastline, eleven countries were detected as having an average of at least one landfall per year. China has the highest rate of TC landfalls. The Philippines ranks second and Japan third. A lot of countries that face the North Western Pacific were included in TC-Landfall countries, which is attributed to the high rate of TC formation over the basin. Keywords: landfall, climatology of landfall characteristics, ranking of TC landfall country