Table 2 Climatology of sea surface temperature (SST, °C), tropical cyclone heat potential (TCHP, kJ cm−2), mixed layer depth (MLD, m), ocean thermal structure (Tssc (°C)), near-surface air temperature (Ta, °C), near-surface specific humidity (qa, g kg−1), vertical wind shear (m s−1), and outflow temperature (Tout, °C) in the main development region (MDR) during summer and autumn seasons

From: Mechanism driving stronger tropical cyclones in cooler autumn than the hottest summer

 

Summer

Autumn

Difference (Autumn minus Summer)

Background wind speed (m s−1)

3.0 ± 0.6

4.2 ± 0.5

1.2 (p < 0.01)

SSTpre (°C)

29.2 ± 0.3

28.8 ± 0.3

−0.4 (p < 0.01)

TCHP (kJ cm−2)

59.2 ± 9.7

65.5 ± 9.4

6.3 (p < 0.01)

MLD (m)

35.8 ± 2.3

46.7 ± 2.7

10.9 (p < 0.01)

Tssc (°C)

2.5 ± 0.2

2.1 ± 0.3

−0.4 (p < 0.01)

Near-surface air temperature (Ta, °C)

26.9 ± 0.3

26.3 ± 0.2

−0.6 (p < 0.01)

Near-surface specific humidity (qa, g kg−1)

17.8 ± 0.3

17.1 ± 0.3

−0.7 (p < 0.01)

Vertical wind shear (m s−1)

14.3 ± 0.7

15.4 ± 0.8

1.1 (p < 0.01)

Outflow temperature (Tout, °C)

−76.8 ± 0.9

−79.2 ± 0.7

−2.4 (p < 0.01)

  1. The last column denotes the difference of variables between the autumn and summer seasons and p < 0.01 indicates that the difference between the two seasons is statistically significant at 99% confidence level using two-tailed Student’s t-test.
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