A joint scientific study released on Wednesday reveals that typhoons in Southeast Asia are forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly, and lasting longer over land due to climate change. Coastal communities and cities such as Hai Phong in Vietnam and Bangkok, Thailand's capital, are facing unprecedented threats from longer-lasting and more intense storms, according to the study's statement.
Researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, Rowan University, and the University of Pennsylvania in the United States analyzed over 64,000 modeled historic and future storms from the 19th century through the end of the 21st century to arrive at these findings. The study, published in the peer-reviewed Nature partner journal Climate and Atmospheric Science, highlights significant changes in tropical cyclone behaviors in Southeast Asia.
These changes include increased formation near coastlines and slower movement over land, which could pose new risks to the region. Climate change, which has caused ocean waters to warm, can alter the paths of tropical storms in the region, home to more than 650 million people. Benjamin Horton, director of NTU's Earth Observatory of Singapore and a co-author of the research, explained that as cyclones travel across warmer oceans from climate change, they pull in more water vapor and heat, resulting in stronger winds, heavier rainfall, and more flooding when the typhoons hit land.
Lead author Andra Garner of Rowan University's School of Earth and Environment emphasized that people living along the region's densely populated coastlines are the most vulnerable. Garner suggested two key actions: reducing emissions to curb the impacts of future storms and taking immediate steps to protect those coastlines, which will likely face worsened tropical cyclone impacts regardless of future emissions.
Last week, intense rains from Typhoon Gaemi caused heavy flooding in Manila, the Philippine capital, and parts of Kaohsiung city in Taiwan. This was the strongest typhoon to hit Taiwan in eight years, resulting in at least five deaths and hundreds of injuries. In the Philippines, the typhoon exacerbated seasonal rains and triggered flooding and landslides that killed at least 30 people.
