AUTHOR=Song Jinjie , Klotzbach Philip J. , Zhao Haikun , Duan Yihong 

TITLE=Slowdown in the Decay of Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclones Making Landfall on the Asian Continent

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Earth Science

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2021.749287

DOI=10.3389/feart.2021.749287

ISSN=2296-6463

ABSTRACT=This study finds an increasing trend in the decay timescale (τ) of western North Pacific (WNP) tropical cyclone (TCs) making landfall on the Asian continent from 1966-2018. Statistical analysis of individual landfalling TCs shows that τ is significantly positively linked to soil wetness, 850-hPa relative vorticity and 200-hPa divergence, whereas it is weakly correlated with 700-500-hPa relative humidity and 850-200-hPa vertical wind shear. For TCs hitting southeastern China, the observed increasing τ is likely caused by enhanced 850-hPa vorticity and 200-hPa divergence. For TCs hitting southern China, increasing τ is likely driven by increased 850-hPa vorticity. By comparison, there are no significant trends in environmental variables over the eastern Indo-China Peninsula, and τ has not significantly changed in this region. Our results imply that the increasing τ of WNP landfalling TCs on the Asian continent are more likely caused by changes in dynamic variables than changes in thermodynamic variables.