Development of a Dynamical Statistical Analog Ensemble Forecast Model for Landfalling Typhoon Disasters

Abstract

In this report, the development of a Dynamical Statistical Analog Ensemble Forecast model for landfalling typhoon disasters (LTDs) and some applications over coastal China are described. This model consists of the following four elements: i) obtaining the forecast track of a target landfalling typhoon, ii) constructing its generalized initial value (GIV), iii) identifying its analogs based on the GIV, and iv) assembling typhoon disasters of the analogs. Typhoon track, intensity, and landfall date are introduced in GIV at this early development stage. The pre-assessment results show that the mean threat scores of two important damage levels of LTDs reach 0.48 and 0.55, respectively. Of significance is that most of the damage occurs near the typhoon centers around the time of landfall. These results indicate the promising performance of the model in capturing the main damage characteristics of typhoon disasters, which would help coastal community mitigate damage from destructive typhoons.