Document Type
Honors Thesis
Publication Date
5-14-2025
Abstract
Tropical cyclones, also known as hurricanes or typhoons, are defined as organized storm systems that form in the warm waters around the equator (NOAA, 2024). This happens due to the combination of warm waters, light winds, and preexisting weather conditions. In the last 50 years, tropical cyclones have accounted for approximately 800,000 deaths and an economic loss of $1.4 trillion USD due to their resulting damages (WMO, 2024). Research in this field includes studies that encompass a variety of time scales including from 85 to 150 years on a global or regional level and studies that focus on more recent trend analysis of a specific region of the world (Garner, 2023; Karnauskas et al., 2023.; Kuleshov et al., 2010; Singh et al., 2001). Most recently, studies have explored the impacts of climate change on hurricane frequency and intensity. Increase in sea surface temperature has led to more intense tropical cyclones but a decrease in frequency (Bhatia et al., 2019; Chand et al., 2022; Črnivec et al., 2015). These results are based on global analyses accounting for data from over hundreds of years ago. However, the accuracy of this information can be called into question as weather satellites were only introduced in 1960. Throughout this paper, I use tropical cyclone frequency and intensity data from the IBTrACS data set since 1960 to understand if trends shown in past research exist within this time period of more reliable data.
Recommended Citation
Thompson, Ramie E., "Patterns in Tropical Cyclone Intensity and Frequency Since 1960" (2025). Student Scholarship. 43.
https://digitalcommons.wofford.edu/studentpubs/43
Included in
Climate Commons, Environmental Sciences Commons, Meteorology Commons