Objectively Detected HighResMIP Tropical Cyclone Tracks and Tropical Cyclone Size (1988–2014) for Model Evaluation

This bundle contains 3 datasets of global tropical cyclone (TC) tracks detected in HighResMIP's highresSST and hist-1950 experiments using the SyCLoPS (Han & Ullrich, 2025) and ZU (Zarzycki & Ullrich, 2017) trackers. See Table 1 of our paper for a list of the 12 models we include. We use SyCLoPS as the primary tracker to extract TC size data for each detected record in each model simulation. More information about SyCLoPS can be found on its GitHub page and in this paper.

All of the datasets listed are used in our HighResMIP paper (preprint), which is currently under review. The preprint link will be provided at a later time. Please cite this paper and the SyCLoPS paper if you use these datasets. If you are instead interested in the complete surface low-pressure system dataset we detect for HighResMIP models, please check it out here.

Since quadrantal wind radii data first appeared in observational best track datasets in 1988 for the North Atlantic (NA) basin, all HighResMIP datasets in this bundle cover years from 1988 to the end of their simulation period in 2014 with 6-hour interval. This 27-year period should be long enough to verify the TC performance of the models. TC tracks in ECMWF reanalysis v5 (ERA5) and regridded 1º ERA5 are also provided for references. The processed International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) data is also uploaded for validating HighResMIP models' TC performance in terms of frequencies, intensity, and size. The 3 datasets listed here are:

1. The IBTrACS observation ZIP file contains three files: (1) ibtracs_radii_all.csv: Processed IBTrACS data containing wind radii from 1988 to 2024. The last "WS" column stores the TC wind speed (intensity), which we use in our paper. This is converted to a specific wind measurement standard if necessary. See section 2.2 of the paper for more details. (2) ibtracs_ERA5_track_pair.csv: Contains track type information for observational IBTrACS TC tracks. "Start_type" and "end_type" correspond to the precursor types and posterior scenarios mentioned in section 2.4 of the paper. (3) [IBTrACS_TC_Size.csv]: This file contains observational TC size data in nautical miles (the "MeanRad" column) using the size estimation method mentioned in Section 2.5 of the paper.
   
   
2. This ZIP file contains tropical cyclone (TC) records detected in HighResMIP simulations and ERA5 by SyCLoPS, along with their TC size information. The "r30" column contains the azimuthally averaged quadrantal wind radii (in nautical miles), and the "MeanRad" column documents the TC size.
   
   
3. This ZIP file contains tracks from the ZU tracker for each HighResMIP model run and ERA5. It is provided for tracking algorithm comparisons. TC size is not computed.

If you have any questions about this dataset bundle, please direct them to Yushan Han at yshhan@ucdavis.edu.