Ocean Eddies Lower the Global‐Mean, Maximum Intensity of Tropical Cyclones in a One‐Year Global, Coupled Simulation

Abstract We quantify the impact of ocean eddies on the global‐mean tropical‐cyclone intensity in a 1‐year simulation run with a coupled atmosphere‐ocean model with quite‐realistic seasonal climatology that resolves both Tropical cyclones (TCs) and ocean eddies. We find a significantly lower global‐mean intensity and intensification rate for the subset of TCs that spend more time over cold‐core eddies than warm‐core eddies. While not statistically significant, we also find that TCs that encounter more warm than cold‐core eddies display a higher global‐mean intensity and intensification rate. The differing impact of warm‐core and cold‐core ocean eddies are consistent with coherent differences in sea‐surface cooling prior to peak intensity. Our results demonstrate that ocean eddies can have a statistically significant impact on the global‐mean intensity, suggesting that resolving ocean eddies does matter for global TC statistics.