Projections of future tropical cyclone activity in response to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases is the focus of a new book written by the University of Hawaii at the Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) professor of atmospheric sciences Pao Shinchu and Hiroyuki Murakami of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory.
“Climate variability and tropical cyclone activity” was published by Cambridge University Press and is available in the Americas and Asia.
“As the Earth warms, we expect to see extreme events become more frequent or more intense, which means increased hurricane rains, flooding and damaging winds; heat waves; drought and forest fires,” said Chu, who is also the Hawaii State climatologist. “These events will undoubtedly impact communities around the world.”
Topics highlighted in the book include climate variability at different time scales; the effects of different climate modes, such as El Niño and the Pacific meridian mode, on the formation, intensity and track of tropical cyclones in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans; and tropical cyclone forecasts and how climate change will impact extreme rainfall associated with typhoons.
This book is intended for use in college-level courses. The material was successfully tested for classroom use in an experimental atmospheric science course at SOEST.
“Usually scientists study climate or tropical cyclones separately, but through this book we have tried to combine them so that scientists on one side can learn what is happening on the other side and collectively we can improve our understanding of dangerous extreme weather events,” Chu said. .
This book is an example of uh Mānoa’s goal of building a sustainable and resilient campus environment: as part of the global movement for sustainability and climate resilience (PDF) and Research Excellence: Advancing the Enterprise of Research and Creative Work (PDF), two of the four objectives defined in the Strategic Plan 2015-2025 (PDF), updated December 2020.
