Both theory and numerical modeling simulations generally indicate an increase in tropical cyclone (TC) intensity in a warmer world, and the models generally show an increase in the number of very intense TCs. For Atlantic and eastern North Pacific hurricanes and western North Pacific typhoons, increases are projected in precipitation rates (high confidence) and intensity (medium confidence). The frequency of the most intense of these storms is projected to increase in the Atlantic and western North Pacific (low confidence) and in the eastern North Pacific (medium confidence).

This finding is from chapter 9 of Climate Science Special Report: The Fourth National Climate Assessment: Volume I.

Process for developing key messages: Models are generally in agreement that tropical cyclones will be more intense and have higher precipitation rates, at least in most ocean basins. Given the agreement between models and support of theory and mechanistic understanding, there is medium to high confidence in the overall projection, although there is some limitation on confidence levels due to the lack of a supporting detectable anthropogenic contribution to tropical cyclone intensities or precipitation rates.

Description of evidence base: The Key Finding and supporting text summarizes extensive evidence documented in the climate science literature and is similar to statements made in previous national (NCA3)dd5b893d-4462-4bb3-9205-67b532919566 and internationalf03117be-ccfe-4f88-b70a-ffd4351b8190 assessments. Since these assessments, more recent downscaling studies have further supported these assessments (e.g., Knutson et al. 20154f1e7aa1-0c36-4220-ac77-7d55bcb33061), though pointing out that the changes (future increased intensity and tropical cyclone precipitation rates) may not occur in all ocean basins.

New information and remaining uncertainties: A key uncertainty remains in the lack of a supporting detectable anthropogenic signal in the historical data to add further confidence to these projections. As such, confidence in the projections is based on agreement among different modeling studies and physical understanding (for example, potential intensity theory for tropical cyclone intensities and the expectation of stronger moisture convergence, and thus higher precipitation rates, in tropical cyclones in a warmer environment containing greater amounts of environmental atmospheric moisture). Additional uncertainty stems from uncertainty in both the projected pattern and magnitude of future sea surface temperatures.4f1e7aa1-0c36-4220-ac77-7d55bcb33061

Assessment of confidence based on evidence: Confidence is rated as high in tropical cyclone rainfall projections and medium in intensity projections since there are a number of publications supporting these overall conclusions, fairly well-established theory, general consistency among different studies, varying methods used in studies, and still a fairly strong consensus among studies. However, a limiting factor for confidence in the results is the lack of a supporting detectable anthropogenic contribution in observed tropical cyclone data.

There is low to medium confidence for increased occurrence of the most intense tropical cyclones for most ocean basins, as there are relatively few formal studies that focus on these changes, and the change in occurrence of such storms would be enhanced by increased intensities, but reduced by decreased overall frequency of tropical cyclones.

Provenance

This finding was derived from figure -.2: Confidence / Likelihood