LANDFALLING TROPICAL CYCLONE RESEARCH PROJECT (LTCRP) IN CHINA

Landfalling tropical cyclones (TCs) often experience drastic changes in their motion, intensity, and structure due to complex multiscale interactions among atmospheric processes and among the coastal ocean, land, and atmosphere. Because of the lack of comprehensive data and low capability of numerical models, understanding of and ability to predict landfalling TCs are still limited. A 10-yr key research project on landfalling TCs was initiated and launched in 2009 in China. The project has been jointly supported by the China Ministry of Science and Technology, China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Ministry of Education, and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its mission is to enhance understanding of landfalling TC processes and improve forecasting skills on track, intensity, and distributions of strong winds and precipitation in landfalling TCs. This article provides an overview of the project, together with highlights of some new findings and new technical developments, as well as planned future efforts.