Central American mountains inhibit eastern North Pacific seasonal tropical cyclone activity

Fu, Dan; Chang, Ping; Patricola, Christina M.; Saravanan, R.; Liu, Xue; Beck, Hylke E.

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-24657-w

Central American mountains inhibit eastern North Pacific seasonal tropical cyclone activity

Journal Article · Tue Jul 20 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24657-w· OSTI ID:1808726

; ; ; Saravanan, R.; Liu, Xue;

Abstract

The eastern North Pacific (ENP) has the highest density of tropical cyclones (TCs) on earth, and yet the controls on TCs, from individual events to seasonal totals, remain poorly understood. One effect that has not been fully considered is the unique geography of the Central American mountains. Although observational studies suggest these mountains can readily fuel individual TCs through dynamical processes, here we show that these mountains indeed play the opposite role on the seasonal timescale, hindering seasonal ENP TC activity by up to 35%. We found that these mountains significantly interrupt the abundant moisture transport from the Caribbean Sea to the ENP, limiting deep convection over the open ocean area where TCs preferentially occur. This study advances our fundamental understanding of ENP TC genesis mechanisms across the weather-to-climate timescales, and also highlights the importance of topography representation in improving the ENP regional climate simulations, as well as TC seasonal predictions and future projections.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); US Department of Commerce; USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; SC0020072

OSTI ID:: 1808726

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1820609

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 12; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

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