Preface to the Special Issue:Climate Change and Variability of Tropical Cyclone Activity

Tropical cyclones(TCs) are one of the most destructive natural phenomena on Earth in terms of human-life and economic losses. It is currently a matter of prodigious public and scientific interest how TC activity has changed and will change in a warming climate. This special issue focuses on a challenging subject raised in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) report and numerous research papers.

Recent progress on the seasonal tropical cyclone predictions over the western North Pacific from 2014 to 2020

This study summarized the procedure for the seasonal predictions of tropical cyclones(TCs)over the western North Pacific(WNP),which is currently operating at the Korea Meteorological Administration(KMA),Republic of Korea.The methodology was briefly described,and its prediction accuracy was verified.Seasonal predictions were produced by synthesizing spatiotemporal evolutions of various climate factors such as El Ni no–Southern Oscillation(ENSO),monsoon activity,and Madden–Julian Oscillation(MJO),using four models:a statistical,a dynamical,and two statistical–dynamical models.The KMA forecaster predicted the number of TCs over the WNP based on the results of the four models and season to season climate variations.The seasonal prediction of TCs is announced through the press twice a year,for the summer on May and fall on August.The present results showed low accuracy during the period 2014–2020.To advance forecast skill,a set of recommendations are suggested.

Binary interaction of typhoons Soulik and Cimaron in 2018—Part Ⅰ:Observational characteristics and forecast error

To understand structural changes and forecast error,a case study of binary typhoons in the western North Pacific(WNP)of 2018 was investigated using best track and reanalysis data.Soulik was generated on August 16 and Cimaron was generated on August 18,respectively.The 19 th typhoon Soulik and 20 th typhoon Cimaron co-existed from August 18 to 24 and approached each other.Soulik was located on the western side and Cimaron was located on the eastern side of the WNP.They were located approximately 1300 km from each other at 00 UTC August 22.The Soulik structure began changing around August 22 and became weak and slow,while Cimaron maintained its intensity,size,and moving speed.This observational evidence is likely caused by the binary interaction between two typhoons within a certain distance and environmental steering flow,such as the location of the North Pacific high and strong jet stream of the northern flank of the North Pacific high.Soulik was initially forecasted to make landfall and reach Seoul;however,its track changed from northward to northeastward from August 21 to 23 according to both official guidance and unified model(UM).Four global numerical weather prediction models forecasted different tracks of Soulik.UM and JGSM forecasted a northward track whereas ECMWF and GFS showed a northeastward track for 12 UTC August 21 through 12 UTC August 24.The latter models were similar to the best track.The track forecast error and spread of Soulik were larger than those of Cimaron.The mean absolute error of the maximum wind speed of Soulik was similar to the average of total typhoons in 2018.

An update on the influence of natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change on tropical cyclones

A substantial number of studies have been published since the Ninth International Workshop on Tropical Cyclones(IWTC-9)in 2018,improving our understanding of the effect of climate change on tropical cyclones(TCs)and associated hazards and risks.These studies have reinforced the robustness of increases in TC intensity and associated TC hazards and risks due to anthropogenic climate change.New modeling and observational studies suggested the potential influence of anthropogenic climate forcings,including greenhouse gases and aerosols,on global and regional TC activity at the decadal and century time scales.However,there are still substantial uncertainties owing to model uncertainty in simulating historical TC decadal variability in the Atlantic,and the limitations of observed TC records.The projected future change in the global number of TCs has become more uncertain since IWTC-9 due to projected increases in TC frequency by a few climate models.A new paradigm,TC seeds,has been proposed,and there is currently a debate on whether seeds can help explain the physical mechanism behind the projected changes in global TC frequency.New studies also highlighted the importance of large-scale environmental fields on TC activity,such as snow cover and air-sea interactions.Future projections on TC translation speed and medicanes are new additional focus topics in our report.Recommendations and future research are proposed relevant to the remaining scientific questions and assisting policymakers.