Evaluation of Dynamical Seasonal Prediction Skills for Tropical Cyclone Activity over the South China Sea in FGOALS-f2

Abstract

Based on 35-year (1981–2015) ensemble (24 members) hindcasts of the IAP/LASG global seasonal prediction system named FGOALS-f2 V1.0 (FGOALS-f2), the tropical cyclone (TC) seasonal prediction skills over the South China Sea (SCS) during the TC peak season (July–November) are evaluated. Starting the prediction from June 20th, FGOALS-f2 can well capture the seasonal mean characteristics for both the genesis location and track of TCs over the SCS. For seasonal anomalous TC numbers, FGOALS-f2 underestimates the maximum and minimum of the TC number compared to the observation. The temporal correlation coefficients (TCCs) between FGOALS-f2 and the observation are 0.39 for the TC number and 0.51 for accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) over the SCS, respectively, which are both above the 95% significant level. Additionally, FGOALS-f2 has acceptable prediction skill for the seasonal mean number of TCs landing on three areas (coastal southeastern China, Indochina Peninsula, and Philippines) surrounding the SCS. The skillful prediction of SCS TCs could be ascribed to the well-predicted tropical anomaly of sea surface temperature (SSTA), TC and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (TC-ENSO) relations, and Genesis potential index (GPI).