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Replying to B. Wang, S. Xu & L. Wu Nature 489, 10.1038/nature11470 (2012)

Arabian Sea tropical cyclones have become stronger over the past 30 years owing to a reduction in vertical wind shear (VWS) brought about by radiative forcing from pollution aerosols1. Wang et al.2 argue that the decline in VWS results from a systematic shift in storm genesis date, which may be part of a natural cycle or another consequence of regional pollution. However, their conclusions2, although interesting, are not supported by our analysis and are probably sensitive to biases in the observational record.

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Figure 1: Arabian Sea cyclone LMI dates and influence of trends and genesis date on storm-ambient VWS.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, 22904, Virginia, USA

    Amato T. Evan

  2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, 92093, California, USA

    Amato T. Evan & V. Ramanathan

  3. NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, Carolina, 28801, North, USA

    James P. Kossin

  4. NOAA Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, Madison, 53706, Wisconsin, USA

    James P. Kossin

  5. Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, 500712, South Korea

    Chul ‘Eddy’ Chung

Authors
  1. Amato T. Evan
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  2. James P. Kossin
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  3. Chul ‘Eddy’ Chung
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  4. V. Ramanathan
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Evan, A., Kossin, J., ‘Eddy’ Chung, C. et al. Evan et al. reply. Nature 489, E2–E3 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11471

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