Reassessing Pre-Satellite Era Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Climatology Using 20th Century Reanalysis Data

This study uses recent advances in global reanalysis techniques to improve the quality of the tropical cyclone climatological record in the Atlantic Basin, specifically in the pre-satellite era. Using the newly-released second version of the 20th Century Reanalysis dataset as a foundation, a series of characteristic temporal and spatial proxies of upper tropospheric response to tropical cyclone passage are constructed for observationally verified track and intensity data. These thermodynamic signatures are then identified in the context of low- or no-observation regimes in order to obtain a first-order estimate of the quantity and magnitude of tropical cyclone events not previously identified in the Atlantic Basin best track database. Within a very broad probabilistic range, this technique allows for an improved assessment of cumulative tropical cyclone energy dissipation for Atlantic hurricane seasons prior to 1960 and offers a new pathway for further refining the climatological record of net annual global cyclone activity.