Comparison of Three Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclone Best Track Datasets in a Seasonal Context

Abstract

The quality of tropical cyclone (TC) best track data has increasingly received more attention in climate research in recent years because of the rising interest in the possible effects of global warming on TC activity. In this paper, three best track datasets for the western North Pacific TCs were compared in a seasonal context. Firstly, the statistical characteristics were examined based on their distributions. Then, the potential impact of particular features within the datasets was evaluated by using contrastive cluster analyses.The mean amplitude of the annual cycle in the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) data is largest among the three datasets. The smallest interannual variability helped the Shanghai Typhoon Institute of China Meteorological Administration (CMA-STI) dataset to resist the negative effect of outliers. An inhomogeneity around 2003-2004 was identified in the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) data by the outliers and was compared with the JMA and CMA-STI data.By using contrastive cluster analyses, the differences among the datasets and some effects related to particular issues, including the representation of the annual cycle, the outliers, and wind conversion were evaluated. The JTWC dataset is affected by outliers and wind conversion among the different average times, whereas the representation of the annual cycle was important for the CMA-STI data. After excluding all the outliers, the results indicated more consistent classifications of the TC annual cycle between the JMA and JTWC data.

State of the Climate in 2014

“…October was another quiet month, with only Super Typhoon Vongfong, followed by Super Typhoon Nuri and Tropical Storm Sinlaku in November. The season 2 It is well known that there are many differences between the JMA and JTWC datasets and the reasons for these differences will not be addressed here, as they have been discussed extensively in the literature (e.g., Wu et al 2006;Nakazawa and Hoshino 2009;Song et al 2010;Ying et al 2011;Kang and Elsner 2012;Yu et al 2012;Knapp et al 2013;Schreck et al 2014). 3 In this analysis, if a storm forms in the two last days of a month, it is counted for the following month, if it lasts more than two days in the next month.…”

An Overview of the China Meteorological Administration Tropical Cyclone Database

“…An increasing number of researchers are using IBTrACS as the basic data source for their studies (e.g., Dare and McBride 2011;Diamond et al 2013;Ying et al 2012). In addition to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) in Tokyo, Japan, best-track datasets are issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) of the U.S. Navy, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), and the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO).…”

State of the Climate in 2016

“…1 It is well known that there are systematic differences between the JMA and the JTWC datasets, which have been extensively documented in the literature (e.g., Wu et al 2006;Nakazawa and Hoshino 2009;Song et al 2010;Ying et al 2011;Knapp et al 2013;Schreck et al 2014).…”