Inversion of Long-Term Trends in Tropical Cyclone Waves Based on Sea Surface Temperature Cooling

The limited in-situ observational capacity during tropical cyclones (TCs) substantially impedes robust quantification of long-term TC wave trends. This study conducts a systematic analysis of multi-decadal TC wave trends across China's adjacent maritime region; these trends are validated via an innovative sea surface temperature (SST) cooling-driven inversion methodology. The cold wakes and wave footprints induced by TC passages are objectively quantified, and the correlation characteristic between their intensity and size is analyzed. Incorporating the synergistic effects of TC translation speed and oceanic background states, a multivariate inversion framework is proposed that utilizes SST cooling to estimate TC extreme waves. Statistical analyses reveal consistent trend characteristics in two types of TC-induced oceanic responses: while the mean states of extreme waves and SST cooling demonstrate significant weakening trends over multidecadal timescales, their extreme states exhibit contrary intensification patterns. Spatiotemporal analyses suggest that the regional enhancement of mixed layer depths could have altered the intensity evolution process of TCs during their lifecycles, which may contribute to the mentioned trend characteristics.