TITLE:
Changes in Tropical Cyclone Number in the Western North Pacific in a Warming Environment as Implied by Classical Thermodynamics
AUTHORS:
Xiaogang Zhou, Chongjian Liu, Ying Liu, Hui Xu, Xiuming Wang
KEYWORDS:
Second Law of Thermodynamics, Global Warming, Thermal Wind Relation, Sea Surface
Temperature
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.2 No.1,
February
24,
2011
ABSTRACT: Observational analyses show that the equatorial trough in the western North Pacific (WNP) is a well-known origin for tropical cyclones (TC) which have tended to weaken in intensity and decrease in number during the last several decades under global warming. A scientific problem then arises as to why higher sea surface temperatures (SSTs), one of the necessary conditions for typhoon genesis, can cause a weakened equatorial trough and a decreased TC number. In this paper, the WNP is taken as an example to illustrate a possible mechanism for the above-mentioned seemingly counterintuitive phenomena and explain the causality between the unusually heterogeneous pattern of SSTs in a warming environment and TC number in the WNP. This mechanism is based substantially on the second law of thermodynamics.