Changes in the autumn precipitation and tropical cyclone activity over Central Vietnam and its East Sea

S.-Y. Simon Wang; Parichart Promchote; Luu Hong Truong; Brendan Buckley; Rong Li; Robert Gillies; Nguyen Tran Quoc Trung; Biin Guan; Ton That Minh

doi:10.15625/0866-7187/36/4/6437

Author affiliations

Authors

S.-Y. Simon Wang - Utah Climate Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA - Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
Parichart Promchote
Luu Hong Truong Southern Institute of Ecology, Vietnam Academy of Science And Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Brendan Buckley Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA
Rong Li School of Forestry & Resource Conservation, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Robert Gillies - Utah Climate Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA - Department of Plants, Soils, and Climate, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
Nguyen Tran Quoc Trung Southern Institute of Ecology, Vietnam Academy of Science And Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Biin Guan School of Forestry & Resource Conservation, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Ton That Minh International Center for Tropical Highland Ecosystems Research, Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, Vietnam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15625/0866-7187/36/4/6437

Keywords:

Climate change, tropical cyclone, precipitation increase, extreme events, sea surface temperature.

Abstract

Central Vietnam is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with all of its incumbent socioeconomic and ecological consequences. This is due in part to the autumn timing of the peak rainfall season in Central Vietnam, at a time when tropical cyclones are most likely to make landfall. We conducted climate diagnostic analyses using meteorological and tropical cyclone data to understand the changing patterns of autumn rainfall and tropical cyclones, revealing an intensification of precipitation over Central Vietnam since the beginning of the 20^th century that is associated with increased tropical cyclones in the adjacent sea. A warming of the sea surface temperature (SST) and enhanced southerly low-level winds are coincident with the above noted increase in rainfall and tropical cyclones. The underlying regional SST and circulation patterns are part of a hemispheric-scale change in the general circulation, i.e. a La Niña-like SST anomaly and a strengthened Walker circulation with the ascending branch located near Vietnam and far-western Pacific. We make the case with this paper that increasing autumn rainfall and tropical cyclones should be taken into account any mitigation and adaptation plans anticipated for Central Vietnam.

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