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Do tropical cyclones (TCs) have a global impact on climate? Maybe in terms of their impact on air-sea heat or gas fluxes? For example cooling the surface ocean, or enhancing CO2 fluxes?

The motivation behind this question is that CMIP6-type Earth system models (ESMs) are often too coarse in resolution to represent TCs. If climate were represented with a high-resolution model, which can reproduce TCs and their air-sea interactions, what aspect of the global climate would potentially be better represented? Would this improvement be relevant at the global scale? Would this be a good reason to push ESMs towards high resolution?

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    $\begingroup$ I would have thought the effect would have been the opposite: climate affects the severity & frequency of tropical cyclones. $\endgroup$
    – Fred
    Commented Mar 20 at 8:03
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    $\begingroup$ You should make that comment an answer, @Fred. Tropical cyclones are one of many mechanisms by which heat is transferred from the tropics to more temperate regions of the Earth. Climate change impacts those heat transfer mechanisms, not the other way around. $\endgroup$
    – David Hammen
    Commented Mar 22 at 12:46

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Tropical cyclones (TCs) significantly impact air-sea heat and gas fluxes, influencing the global climate system in essential ways. TCs extract heat from the ocean surface through strong winds and heavy rainfall. This process leads to mixing the upper ocean layers, bringing cooler water from below to the surface and resulting in a noticeable cooling effect, known as the cold wake of a TC. This cooling can affect local and regional sea surface temperatures (SSTs), influencing atmospheric circulation patterns and subsequent weather events. The intense mixing caused by TCs can enhance the exchange of gases between the ocean and the atmosphere. The turbulent conditions can increase the uptake of CO2 by the ocean, which has implications for the global carbon cycle. Enhanced CO2 fluxes can temporarily increase the ocean's capacity to sequester carbon, influencing atmospheric CO2 concentrations and, thus, the global carbon budget.

High-resolution models that can accurately simulate TCs and their interactions would improve the representation of these processes in climate models, leading to more accurate climate predictions and a better understanding of climate feedback. This provides a strong motivation to push for higher resolution in Earth system models, as the benefits extend to both global and regional scales, with significant implications for climate science, policy, and planning.

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When the overall energy of the atmosphere is considered, mainly thermal and kinetic, the energy contained by tropical cyclones is much smaller. Climate change affects the severity & frequency of tropical cyclones, not the other way around. The tail doesn't wag the dog.

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I assume that tropical cyclones do not have a great influence on the climate. They do cool the sea surface temperature in the areas where they occur, but not significantly enough to have a global impact.

There have been numerous tropical cyclones in the past, although the overall number has remained relatively constant. Only the number of intense tropical cyclones is increasing. At some point in the past we should have noticed an influence on the climate that we cannot explain otherwise, but since we did not, the influence cannot be considered significant.

But the other way around is correct: climate change influences the frequency, duration and intensity of tropical cyclones.

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