Tropical cyclone hazard to Mumbai in the recent historical climate

The hazard to the city of Mumbai, India, from a possible severe tropical cyclone under the recent historical climate is considered. The authors first determine, based on a review of primary sources, that the Bombay Cyclone of 1882, documented in a number of print and Internet sources and claimed to...

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Main Author: Emanuel, Kerry Andrew
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Meteorological Society 2020
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124735
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author Emanuel, Kerry Andrew
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Emanuel, Kerry Andrew
author_sort Emanuel, Kerry Andrew
collection MIT
description The hazard to the city of Mumbai, India, from a possible severe tropical cyclone under the recent historical climate is considered. The authors first determine, based on a review of primary sources, that the Bombay Cyclone of 1882, documented in a number of print and Internet sources and claimed to have caused 100 000 or more deaths, did not occur. Two different tropical cyclone hazard models, both of which generate large numbers of synthetic cyclones using environmental data-here taken from reanalyses in the satellite era-as input, are then used to quantify the hazard, in conjunction with historical observations. Both models indicate that a severe cyclone landfall at or near Mumbai is possible, though unlikely in any given year. Return periods for wind speeds exceeding 100 kt (1 kt = 0.5144ms-1) (the threshold for category 3 in the Saffir-Simpson hurricanewind scale) atMumbai itself are estimated to be in the range of thousands to greater than 10 000 years, while the return period for a storm with maximum wind speed of 100 kt or greater passing within 150 km of Mumbai (possibly close enough to generate a substantial storm surge at the city) is estimated to be around 500 years. Return periods for winds exceeding 65 kt (hurricane intensity on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale) are estimated to be around 200 years at Mumbai itself, and 50-90 years within 150 km. Climate change is not explicitly considered in this study, but the hazard to the city is likely to be increasing because of sea level rise as well as changes in storm climatology. ©2019
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spelling mit-1721.1/1247352022-10-03T08:53:22Z Tropical cyclone hazard to Mumbai in the recent historical climate Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences The hazard to the city of Mumbai, India, from a possible severe tropical cyclone under the recent historical climate is considered. The authors first determine, based on a review of primary sources, that the Bombay Cyclone of 1882, documented in a number of print and Internet sources and claimed to have caused 100 000 or more deaths, did not occur. Two different tropical cyclone hazard models, both of which generate large numbers of synthetic cyclones using environmental data-here taken from reanalyses in the satellite era-as input, are then used to quantify the hazard, in conjunction with historical observations. Both models indicate that a severe cyclone landfall at or near Mumbai is possible, though unlikely in any given year. Return periods for wind speeds exceeding 100 kt (1 kt = 0.5144ms-1) (the threshold for category 3 in the Saffir-Simpson hurricanewind scale) atMumbai itself are estimated to be in the range of thousands to greater than 10 000 years, while the return period for a storm with maximum wind speed of 100 kt or greater passing within 150 km of Mumbai (possibly close enough to generate a substantial storm surge at the city) is estimated to be around 500 years. Return periods for winds exceeding 65 kt (hurricane intensity on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale) are estimated to be around 200 years at Mumbai itself, and 50-90 years within 150 km. Climate change is not explicitly considered in this study, but the hazard to the city is likely to be increasing because of sea level rise as well as changes in storm climatology. ©2019 2020-04-17T18:53:06Z 2020-04-17T18:53:06Z 2019-07 2018-11 2020-04-08T14:04:30Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1520-0493 0027-0644 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124735 Sobel, Adam H., et al., "Tropical cyclone hazard to Mumbai in the recent historical climate." Monthly weather review 147, 7 (July 2019): p. 2355-66 doi 10.1175/MWR-D-18-0419.1 ©2019 Author(s) en 10.1175/MWR-D-18-0419.1 Monthly weather review Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Meteorological Society American Meteorological Society
spellingShingle Emanuel, Kerry Andrew
Tropical cyclone hazard to Mumbai in the recent historical climate
title Tropical cyclone hazard to Mumbai in the recent historical climate
title_full Tropical cyclone hazard to Mumbai in the recent historical climate
title_fullStr Tropical cyclone hazard to Mumbai in the recent historical climate
title_full_unstemmed Tropical cyclone hazard to Mumbai in the recent historical climate
title_short Tropical cyclone hazard to Mumbai in the recent historical climate
title_sort tropical cyclone hazard to mumbai in the recent historical climate
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124735
work_keys_str_mv AT emanuelkerryandrew tropicalcyclonehazardtomumbaiintherecenthistoricalclimate