Spatial and Temporal Variability of Tropical Cyclones in IBTrACS

The International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) contains records of global tropical cyclone best track data, including about 40 years of records since the start of the satellite era, with improvements made to the new v04r01 release which is underway. In this study, we compile IBTrACS data in a novel way to understand relationships to different modes of variability including the seasonal cycle, El Niño Southern Oscillation, and Madden Julian Oscillation. Accumulated cyclone energy and differences in the mean surface level pressure associated with each track are binned into 5 degree by 5 degree boxes in space daily, then smoothed and composited for further analysis. Results show the spatial and temporal evolution of tropical cyclone activity historically, though care must be taken in interpretation, given the event driven nature of tropical cyclones.