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A Global View of the Landfall Characteristics ofTropical Cyclones
Hironori Fudeyasu, Shun Hirose, Hiroaki Yoshioka, Rie Kumazawa,and Shota Yamasaki
Yokohama National University, Kanagawa, Japan

ABSTRACTThis report presents a climatology of the landfall characteristics of tropical cyclones (TCs) by country. Landfalling TCs can produce strong winds, storm surges and severe flooding that may result in loss of life and widespread damages. Although historically many governments have estimated the frequency of TC landfall for theirown country, less work has been undertaken from a global viewpoint. This report addresses that gap by presenting a comparative assessment that may assist global efforts toward disaster risk reduction through improved
understanding of the relative level of exposure of countries to TCs. The various aspects of the climatology of TC
landfalls for each country are provided. Using the definition of a TC landfall as the intersection of the TC trackwith a coastline, eleven countries were detected as having an average of at least one landfall per year. China has
the highest rate of TC landfalls. The Philippines ranks second and Japan third. A lot of countries that face theNorth Western Pacific were included in TC-Landfall countries, which is attributed to the high rate of TC formation over the basin.
Keywords: landfall, climatology of landfall characteristics, ranking of TC landfall country

1.	Introduction

The purpose of this report is to present a climatology ofthe landfall characteristics of tropical cyclones (TCs) bycountry, for each country that experiences an average of atleast one landfall a year.
Landfalling TCs can produce strong winds, storm surges
and severe flooding that may result in loss of life and widespread damages. Although historically many governments
have estimated the frequency of TC landfall for their own
country, less work has been undertaken from a global viewpoint. This report addresses that gap by presenting a comparative assessment that may assist global efforts towarddisaster risk reduction through improved understanding of
the relative level of exposure of countries to TCs.

2. Data and definition

The International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS v03r04; Knapp et al. 2010) was usedin the report. While the IBTrACS compiled the best trackdata provided by 13 Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers(TCWCs) and Regional Specialized Meteorological Cen-Corresponding author address: Hironori Fudeyasu, Faculty of Educationand Human Sciences, Yokohama National University, 79-2 Tokiwadai,Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, 240-8501. E-mail: fude@ynu.ac.jp
DOI: 10.6057/2014TCRR03.04

ters (RSMCs), we selected the track data from the official
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) agency toidentify the TC lifecycle location and intensity. The data ofofficial WMO agency consists of track data from RSMCsand TCWCs for each basin: Japan Meteorological Agencyas RSMC Tokyo for the North Western Pacific (WP), U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Central Pacific Hurricane Center as RSMC Honolulu
for the North Eastern Pacific (EP), Australian Bureau ofMeteorology (BOM) as TCWC Perth, Darwin, Brisbane,and RSMC Nadi for the South Pacific (SP), India Meteorological Department as RSMC New Delhi for the North Indian Ocean (NI), Météo-France as RSMC La Reunion andBOM for the South Indian Ocean (SI), NOAA’s National
Hurricane Center as RSMC Miami for the North Atlantic(NA) and the South Atlantic (SA). Due to the limitations ofthe track data, analysis periods were from 1971 to 2011 for
EP and NA, from 1977 to 2011 for WP, and from 1990 to2011 for NI, SI, and SP. We did not normalize for data bias
caused by the different wind-averaging periods each track
data, since the purpose of this report is to present a climatology of the landfall characteristics of TCs.
The TC formation location was defined as the location
where a TC first reached tropical storm intensity (maximum
sustained wind speeds of greater than 17 ms-1 or 34 knots).

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179Fig. 1. Coastlines (red line) for each country in our analysis and defined borders of basins.

The location of cyclolysis was defined as the last point in
the track where the TC had tropical storm intensity. Thecoastlines for each country were defined as shown in Fig. 1.
We adopt the definition of a TC landfall as the intersectionof the TC track with a coastline. The tracks were provided
by the 6-hourly TC locations. We include landfalling TCs
that were downgraded to a tropical depression at the first
analysis point following landfall but were classified as TCs
at the last analysis point prior to landfall. Inland nationalboundaries are treated as a coastline. For example, if a TC
made landfall in Vietnam but moved across the border into
Laos prior to being downgraded, we count as a landfall for
Laos as well as Vietnam. It should be noted that this methodology provides a simple objective metric of the relative
exposure of countries to TC impacts, but ignores the potential for significant impacts from TCs that come close to, but
do not cross the coastline.

b. Annual number of TC landfalls by country

We define a TC Landfall Country (TCLC) as a country
for which the mean number of TC landfalls is at least one
a year (≥1.0 landfalls per year). By this definition there are
11 TCLCs. The TCLCs were ranked as shown in Table 1
and graphically illustrated in Fig. 3. China has the highest
rate of TC landfalls. The Philippines ranks second and Ja-3.	Resultsa. Annual variation of TC formation by basin

The number of TC formations averaged from 1990 to2011 is 77.8 with large annual variation (Fig. 2). We detected the climatological number of TC formation by basin.
The seven basin regions are defined by the equator (Fig. 1).
WP and EP are defined as the area bounded by 180°, and SI
and SP are defined as the area bounded by 135°E.
The highest average number of TC formations for any
basin is 24.1 in WP, more than 30 percent of the global
number. The ranks are as follows: 15.1 in EP, 13.2 in SI,
12.6 in NA, 8.7 in SP, and 3.8 in NI. In SA, a TC formation
was detected in 2004, 2010, and 2011.

Fig. 2. Annual variation of TC formation by basin: North Western
Pacific (red), North Eastern Pacific (blue),South Pacific (green), North
Indian Ocean (purple),South Indian Ocean (light blue), North Atlantic(yellow), and South Atlantic (black).

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Table 1. Ranking of TC landfall country
Rank
123
456
7891011TLC
CHINA
PHILLIPINESJAPANUSAMEXICOVIETNAMA
AUSTRALIA
MADAGASCAR
INDIA
LAOS
CANADA

Yearly average No.
6.714
43.743
3.31
3.19
2.943
2.909
1.636
1.409
1.343
1

pan third. Five of the eleven TCLCs are countries that border the WP; which is attributed to the high number of TCs
in that basin.
The following pages of the report provide graphs and figures that illustrate various aspects of the climatology of TC
landfalls for each TCLC: a graph of the annual variation ofTC landfalls, a graph of the distribution by month of TC

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landfalls, a map of the tracks of landfalling TCs, a map offormation locations for landfalling TCs, a map of landfall
locations, a map of cyclolysis locations for landfalling TCs,
a graph of the distribution of central pressures at the firstanalysis point following landfall, a graph of the distribution of maximum sustained wind speeds at the first analysis
point following landfall, a graph of the distribution of TC
duration from formation to landfall, and a graph of the distribution of TC duration from landfall to cyclolysis.
The climatology of TCs that made landfall on China isshown in Fig. 4. A lot of TCs form in the Philippine Sea
and the South China Sea (SCS) and move westward overthe southern and eastern coasts, and eastern Taiwan. If thecoastlines of China do not include Taiwan, China is stillranked as the highest TCLC. The number of landfall TCs
from the SCS is greater than those from the Philippine Sea.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on the Philippines is shown in Fig. 5. The intra-seasonal distribution
shows a bi-modal character with peaks in July and October.
It is notable that more intense (hurricane-force) TCs makelandfall on the Philippines than any other country.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on Japan isshown in Fig. 6. It should be noted that Japan coastlines
include the Nansei and Satsunan Islands, which is the dif-Fig. 3. Annual average number of TCs that make landfall by country. Opened bars mean the eastern coast of thecountries which have the eastern and western coasts. Gray bars means Taiwan in China and Nansei and Satsunan
Islands in Japan.

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Fig. 4. (A) Annual variation of TCs that make landfall on China, (B) monthly distribution of TCs that make landfall on China, (C) tracks of TCs that make landfall on China(red means the tropical storm intensity), (D) formation locations of TCs that make landfall
on China, (E) landfall locations of TCs, (F) cyclolysis locations of TCs that make landfall
on China, (G) distribution of central pressure of TCs at the first analysis point following
landfall on China, (H) distribution of maximum wind speed of TCs at the first analysis
point following landfall on China, (I) distribution of TC duration from formation to landfall on China, and (J) distribution of TC duration from landfall on China to cyclolysis.
Closed bars mean TCs that formed in the SCS.

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Fig. 5. As in Fig. 4 but the Philippines.

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Fig. 6. As in Fig. 4 but Japan.

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Fig. 7. As in Fig. 4 but USA. Closed bars
mean TCs that formed in the EP

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Fig. 8. As in Fig. 4 but Mexico. Closedbars mean TCs that formed in the EP

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Fig. 9. As in Fig. 4 but Vietnam.

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Fig. 10. As in Fig. 4 but Australia. Closed bars mean TCs thatmake landfall on the western coasts bounded by 135°E.

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Fig. 11. As in Fig. 4 but Madagascar.

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Fig. 12. As in Fig. 4 but India. Closed bars mean TCs that makelandfall on the eastern coasts bounded by 78°E.

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Fig. 13. As in Fig. 4 but Laos.

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Fig. 14. As in Fig. 4 but Canada.

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ferent from the definition used by the Japan MeteorologicalAgency. If the coastlines of Japan do not include Nansei Islands and Satsunan Islands, Japan is ranked as the seventh
highest TCLC.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on the USA
is shown in Fig. 7. Most TCs landfalling on the USA formin the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico and movenorthwestward toward the southern and eastern coasts.
TCs make landfall on both the west and east coasts of theFlorida Peninsula.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on Mexico isshown in Fig. 8. In contrast to USA, the number of landfall TCs from EP is comparable to those from the Gulf ofMexico and Caribbean Sea.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on Vietnam isshown in Fig. 9. Fig. 9c illustrates that Vietnam is mainly
affected by TCs that take a straight westwards track after
forming in the SCS or Philippines Sea.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on Australia
is shown in Fig. 10. Australia is the highest TCLC in thesouthern hemisphere. The number of TCs that made landfall on the north western coast from SI is comparable tothe number of TCs that made landfall on the north eastern
coast from SP.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on Madagascar is shown in Fig.11. A lot of TCs come from the central
SI, while some TCs make landfall on the western coast ofMadagascar from Mozambique Channel.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on India isshown in Fig. 12. The number of landfall TCs on the eastern coast from the Bay of Bengal is much greater thanthose on the western coast. The intra-seasonal distributionof TCs making landfall on India is distinctly bi-modal withthe peaks in May and November.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on Laos isshown in Fig. 13. It is interesting to note that a landlocked
country is ranked in the TCLC. After the passage throughVolume 3, No. 3

Vietnam, TC moved across the eastern border into Laos
prior to being downgraded.
The climatology of TC that made landfall on Canada isshown in Fig. 14. Canada is the northernmost TCLCs.

4. Conclusion

This report presented a climatology of the landfall characteristics of TCs by country, in order to aid global disasterrisk reduction efforts by addressing a gap in the understanding of the relative level of exposure of countries to TCs.
The track data from the official WMO agency compiled in
the IBTrACS was used to identify the TC lifecycle locationand intensity. We adopted the definition of a TC landfall as
the intersection of the TC track with a coastline. It should
be noted that this methodology provides a simple objective
metric of the relative exposure of countries to TC impacts.
Eleven countries were detected as a country for which
the mean number of TC landfalls is at least one a year.
China has the highest rate of TC landfalls. The Philippines
ranks second and Japan third. A lot of countries that face
the North Western Pacific were included in TCLCs, which
is attributed to the high number of TC formations in thatbasin.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express hearty thanks to Dr.
Koji Kuroiwa for his support and providing opportunity.
Thanks are extended to Dr. Andrew Burton for his detailed
and constructive review comments and suggestions. This
work was supported by JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific
Research Grant Number 25800262, and MEXT SOUSEI
program.

References

Knapp, K. R., M. C. Kruk, D. H. Levinson, H. J. Diamond, and C.
J. Neumann, 2010: The International Best Track Archive for
Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS). Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 91,363–376.