2023-12-29 17:50:19
Archivo – 06 September 2022, South Korea, Busan: High waves batter a breakwater on the coast of the southeastern port city of Busan as Typhoon Hinnamnor slammed southern South Korea. Photo: -/YNA/dpa – -/YNA/dpa – Archivo
MADRID, 29 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Pioneering quantitative analysis of the impact of global warming on landfalling typhoons on the Korean Peninsula reveals an increase in extreme precipitation due to this cause.
This research, which used a high-resolution climate model, has recently been published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science by scientists from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH).
In particular, global warming is giving way to an increase in more powerful typhoons that maintain their intensity for longer and, therefore, cause major damage.
Last year, Typhoon Hinnamnor, which caused 36 deaths, gained notoriety as the first super typhoon to develop at a high latitude of 25°N since records by the Korea Meteorological Administration began. This year, in Osong, Chungcheongbuk-do, an unexpected heavy downpour caused rivers to suddenly overflow, resulting in numerous casualties.
Accurate typhoon prediction and damage reduction require a better understanding of global warming influences, for which climate model simulations with kilometer-scale resolution are essential. However, studies quantifying the contribution of anthropogenic warming to typhoons affecting Korea remain scarce. especially research on the extreme rainfall that accompanies typhoons.
To overcome this, the research team designed a 3 km high-resolution regional climate model simulation to investigate the impact of global warming on typhoon intensity and extreme precipitation.
Four extremely strong typhoons that made landfall on the Korean Peninsula between 2011 and 2020 were chosen for simulation under current climate conditions and under counterfactual conditions without human-induced warming. To reduce uncertainties in regional sea surface temperature changes due to global warming, the researchers used various ocean warming patterns estimated from multiple CMIP6 climate models.
The findings show that taking into account global warming due to human activities increased the overall intensity and precipitation of typhoons. The research team observed that the impact of warming was more pronounced on the maximum intensity of the typhoon than on the average intensity. This implies that Powerful super typhoons will occur more frequently over East Asia in the future.
Additionally, the area exposed to extreme precipitation generated by typhoons expanded by 16% to 37% due to warmer weather conditions. Furthermore, the expansion of the extreme precipitation area is attributed to the strengthening of the upward motion near the center of the typhoon and the increase in atmospheric water vapor. due to warming of the ocean surface.
Professor Seung-Ki Min, from the Division of Environmental Science and Engineering at Pahng and author of the study, explained: “Our results from high-resolution climate model simulations provide conclusive evidence that global warming has amplified the strength of recent typhoons that made landfall on the Korean Peninsula. “The continued escalation of global warming could lead to stronger typhoons and more extensive occurrences of extreme rainfall, demanding greater sector-specific preparedness measures.”
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