Lau, William K. M., Shi, J. J., Tao, W. K., Kim, K. M.

Geophysical Research Letters

Published date January 19, 2016

What would happen to Superstorm Sandy under the influence of a substantially warmer Atlantic Ocean?

  • Finds that possible responses of Sandy-like superstorms under the influence of a substantially warmer Atlantic Ocean bifurcate into two groups:
  • In the first group, storms are similar to present-day Sandy from genesis to extratropical transition, except they are much stronger, with peak Power Destructive Index (PDI) increased by 50–80%, heavy rain by 30–50%, and maximum storm size (MSS) approximately doubled
  • In the second group, storms amplify substantially over the interior of the Atlantic warm pool, with peak PDI increased by 100–160%, heavy rain by 70–180%, and MSS more than tripled compared to present-day Superstorm Sandy
  • Finds that storms in the second group recurve northeastward out to sea when exiting the warm pool, interacting with the developing midlatitude storm, and amplifying into a severe Northeastern coastal storm