Impacts of Climate Change: Tropical Storm Intensity Amanda Speciale, Maggie White, Maria Pozo, Jie Chen CPSG101 Science & Global Change First Year Colloquium II April 19, 2016 What is a Tropical Storm? Changes over the Years Fig. B Fig. C Fig. A Sea surface temperature is an indicator of climate change, as it has increased along with global temperatures over the past century (Fig. B). Figure C shows that power dissipation of storms has increased over time in the North Atlantic region. Power dissipation combines intensity, frequency, and duration. Taking into account that temperature is a factor in tropical storm formation, there has been a proposed correlation between increasing sea surface temperature due to climate change and increased tropical storm intensity. Hurricanes result from warm seawater evaporating until a large amount of warm, moist air accumulates in the atmosphere, causing a low pressure system Effects Fig. D Fig. F Fig. E Fig. D shows the number of tropical storms occurred and the population affected during 1980 and 2009. The predicted economic damages caused by tropical cyclones by 2100 (simulated using the integrated assessment model FUND 3.4.) are shown in figure F. The results are shown as ratios to both the gross and net total impacts. Small Island States incur the largest damages as evaluated to their share to GDP. The direct economic damage of tropical cyclones due to climate change amounts to $19 billion globally in 2100. A specific example of economic implications is shown in figure E, examining the banana crop yields in the SIS of Guadalupe. Banana crop yield is shown in green and annual tropical cyclone energy dissipation in orange. Agriculture is one of the many facets of the economy negatively impacted by tropical cyclones. According to the data from the International Disaster Database and the National Hurricane center, there were a total of 1,080 tropical cyclones recorded worldwide during 1980 and 2009. In this 30-year period, those tropical storms impacted 466 million people, and resulted in 412,000 deaths, 290,000 injuries, and 20.1 million people left homeless. Bibliography: Fig. A: "Tropical Storms." Tropical Storms. Cool Geography, n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. Fig. B: Change in Sea Surface Temperature. Digital image. Climate Change. United States Environmental Protection Agency, June 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2016. Fig. C: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States 2009 Report Legacy Site." Observed Relationship Between Sea Surface Temperatures and Hurricane Power in the North Atlantic Ocean. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. Fig. D: Doocy, S., A. Dick, A. Daniels, T. D. Kirsch. 2013. The Human Impact of Tropical Cyclones: a Historical Review of Events 1980-2009 and Systematic Literature Review. PLoS Currents 5: ecurrents. doi: 10.1371/currents.dis.2664354a5571512063ed29d25ffbce74 Fig. E: Temperatures and Cyclones Strongly Associated with Economic Production in the Caribbean and Central America. Digital Image. Hsiang, Solomon M. PNAS. Web. 29 Jan. 2016. Fig. F: D. Narita ,R. Tol, and D. Anthoff. 2008. Damage Costs of Climate Change through Intensification of Tropical Cyclone Activities: An Application of FUND. ESRI working paper, No. 259