Long‐term trends of typhoon‐induced rainfall over Taiwan: In situ evidence of poleward shift of typhoons in western North Pacific in recent decades

A significant poleward shift of tropical cyclones (TCs or typhoons) and TC‐induced storm surge in the western North Pacific has occurred in recent decades. Here we use 64 year rainfall observations around Taiwan to provide an independent evidence of the shift. We show that, due to the island's...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geophysical research. Atmospheres 2017-03, Vol.122 (5), p.2750-2765
Main Authors: Liang, Alice (Ting‐Yu), Oey, Leo, Huang, Shiming, Chou, Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asian monsoons
Asian summer monsoons
Asymmetry
Climate
Climate change
Cyclones
Geophysics
Hurricanes
Islands
long‐term trends
Marine
Meteorology
Monsoons
Ocean-atmosphere interaction
precipitation
Rain
Rainfall
Rainfall trends
Steering
Storm surges
Storms
Taiwan
Trends
Tropical climate
Tropical cyclones
Tropical environments
Tropics
Typhoon tracks
Typhoons
western Pacific high
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Summary:A significant poleward shift of tropical cyclones (TCs or typhoons) and TC‐induced storm surge in the western North Pacific has occurred in recent decades. Here we use 64 year rainfall observations around Taiwan to provide an independent evidence of the shift. We show that, due to the island's unique location relative to typhoon tracks, TC‐induced rainfall trends are significantly rising west and north of the island but are insignificant east and southeast, caused by a preference in recent decades for TCs to veer more poleward. Analyses of large‐scale fields indicate that the TCs' poleward shift is caused by the weakening of the steering flow and western North Pacific subtropical high, which in turn is due to tropic‐subtropical Indo‐Pacific warming and a weakened monsoon, consistent with the expansion of the tropics due to climate change. Key Points We show that TC‐induced rainfall trend in Taiwan has a west‐east asymmetry despite the smallness of the island We explain why the shift is related to a preference in recent decades for TCs to veer more northward We explain why the shift is related to long‐term weakening trends of WNPSH and Asian monsoons
ISSN:2169-897X
2169-8996
DOI:10.1002/2017JD026446