Enlarging Rainfall Area of Tropical Cyclones by Atmospheric Aerosols
Abstract The size of a tropical cyclone (TC), measured by the area of either rainfall or wind, is an important indicator for the potential damage by TC. Modeling studies suggested that aerosols tend to enhance rainfall in the outer rainbands, which enlarges the eyewall radius and expands the extent...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2018-08-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079427 |
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| _version_ | 1850075345643896832 |
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| author | Chuanfeng Zhao Yanluan Lin Fang Wu Yang Wang Zhanqing Li Daniel Rosenfeld Yuan Wang |
| author_facet | Chuanfeng Zhao Yanluan Lin Fang Wu Yang Wang Zhanqing Li Daniel Rosenfeld Yuan Wang |
| author_sort | Chuanfeng Zhao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The size of a tropical cyclone (TC), measured by the area of either rainfall or wind, is an important indicator for the potential damage by TC. Modeling studies suggested that aerosols tend to enhance rainfall in the outer rainbands, which enlarges the eyewall radius and expands the extent of rainfall area. However, no observational evidence has yet been reported. Using TC rainfall area and aerosol optical depth (AOD) data, we find that aerosols have a distinguishable footprint in the TC size. Other dynamical factors for TC size, such as relative SST and Coriolis parameter, are also quantified and discussed. We show that, on average, TC rainfall size increases 9–20 km for each 0.1 increase of AOD in the western North Pacific. This finding implies that anthropogenic aerosol pollution can increase not only TC rainfall rate, but also TC rainfall area, resulting in potentially more destructive flooding affecting larger areas. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-00507c2fef6b470baacae7a0eac7974b |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-08-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-00507c2fef6b470baacae7a0eac7974b2025-08-20T02:46:20ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072018-08-0145168604861110.1029/2018GL079427Enlarging Rainfall Area of Tropical Cyclones by Atmospheric AerosolsChuanfeng Zhao0Yanluan Lin1Fang Wu2Yang Wang3Zhanqing Li4Daniel Rosenfeld5Yuan Wang6State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, and College of Global Change and Earth System Science Beijing Normal University Beijing ChinaMinistry of Education Key Laboratory for Earth System Modeling, Department of Earth System Science Tsinghua University Beijing ChinaState Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, and College of Global Change and Earth System Science Beijing Normal University Beijing ChinaState Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, and College of Global Change and Earth System Science Beijing Normal University Beijing ChinaState Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, and College of Global Change and Earth System Science Beijing Normal University Beijing ChinaInstitute of Earth Sciences The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem IsraelDivision of Geological and Planetary Sciences California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USAAbstract The size of a tropical cyclone (TC), measured by the area of either rainfall or wind, is an important indicator for the potential damage by TC. Modeling studies suggested that aerosols tend to enhance rainfall in the outer rainbands, which enlarges the eyewall radius and expands the extent of rainfall area. However, no observational evidence has yet been reported. Using TC rainfall area and aerosol optical depth (AOD) data, we find that aerosols have a distinguishable footprint in the TC size. Other dynamical factors for TC size, such as relative SST and Coriolis parameter, are also quantified and discussed. We show that, on average, TC rainfall size increases 9–20 km for each 0.1 increase of AOD in the western North Pacific. This finding implies that anthropogenic aerosol pollution can increase not only TC rainfall rate, but also TC rainfall area, resulting in potentially more destructive flooding affecting larger areas.https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079427Tropical cyclonerainfall areaaerosol optical depthrainfall intensitywestern North Pacific |
| spellingShingle | Chuanfeng Zhao Yanluan Lin Fang Wu Yang Wang Zhanqing Li Daniel Rosenfeld Yuan Wang Enlarging Rainfall Area of Tropical Cyclones by Atmospheric Aerosols Geophysical Research Letters Tropical cyclone rainfall area aerosol optical depth rainfall intensity western North Pacific |
| title | Enlarging Rainfall Area of Tropical Cyclones by Atmospheric Aerosols |
| title_full | Enlarging Rainfall Area of Tropical Cyclones by Atmospheric Aerosols |
| title_fullStr | Enlarging Rainfall Area of Tropical Cyclones by Atmospheric Aerosols |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enlarging Rainfall Area of Tropical Cyclones by Atmospheric Aerosols |
| title_short | Enlarging Rainfall Area of Tropical Cyclones by Atmospheric Aerosols |
| title_sort | enlarging rainfall area of tropical cyclones by atmospheric aerosols |
| topic | Tropical cyclone rainfall area aerosol optical depth rainfall intensity western North Pacific |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079427 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chuanfengzhao enlargingrainfallareaoftropicalcyclonesbyatmosphericaerosols AT yanluanlin enlargingrainfallareaoftropicalcyclonesbyatmosphericaerosols AT fangwu enlargingrainfallareaoftropicalcyclonesbyatmosphericaerosols AT yangwang enlargingrainfallareaoftropicalcyclonesbyatmosphericaerosols AT zhanqingli enlargingrainfallareaoftropicalcyclonesbyatmosphericaerosols AT danielrosenfeld enlargingrainfallareaoftropicalcyclonesbyatmosphericaerosols AT yuanwang enlargingrainfallareaoftropicalcyclonesbyatmosphericaerosols |