A Westward Shift in Tropical Cyclone Potential Intensity and Genesis Regions in the North Atlantic During the Last Interglacial

Given the longstanding debate on geomorphological features (i.e., megaboulders, chevron‐shaped sand ridges, and runup deposits) observed around the Bahamas, it is unclear whether Earth experienced superstorms over the North Atlantic during the Last Interglacial (LIG). Based on multimodels from the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project, we illustrate that the tropical North Atlantic exhibits an overall warming (∼0.9°C) during the storm season of the LIG relative to preindustrial. Potential intensity shows a zonal dipole anomaly over the main development region during the LIG, with positive anomalies in the west, offering an increased probability of extremely strong storms. Favorable conditions for storm formation shift from the eastern to the western main development region during the LIG, with enhanced large‐scale steering flows at higher latitudes (∼15 – 30°N). These results suggest a westward migration of storm activity during the LIG, with potentially more frequent and intense storms over the western North Atlantic and increased coastal erosions.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Geophysical Research Letters

• Publication date

  2021-06-14

• Fields of study

  Geology, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1029/2021GL093946
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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