Description: The Impact of Climate Change on Hurricane Damages in the United States

Cover Image

QR Code

The Impact of Climate Change on Hurricane Damages in the United States

This paper quantifies hurricane damage caused by climate change across the US. A damage function is estimated from historic hurricane data to measure the impacts at each location given the storm's strength. The minimum barometric pressure of e...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Mendelsohn, Robert, Emanuel, Kerry, Chonabayashi, Shun
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	APPLIED METEOROLOGY ATLANTIC HURRICANE ATLANTIC OCEAN ATMOSPHERE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE BAROMETRIC PRESSURE BUILDING CODES CALCULATION CATASTROPHIC INSURANCE CLIMATE CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE CHANGE DAMAGE CLIMATE CHANGE DAMAGES CLIMATE CHANGE ECONOMICS CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT CLIMATE CHANGE PREDICTIONS CLIMATE CHANGES CLIMATE CONDITIONS CLIMATE DAMAGES CLIMATE DYNAMICS CLIMATE HAZARD CLIMATE MODEL CLIMATE MODELS CLIMATE SCENARIO CLIMATE SCENARIOS CLIMATE SYSTEM CLIMATE UNCERTAINTY CLIMATES CLIMATOLOGY CO2 COSTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE CYCLONE ACTIVITY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT DAMAGE FROM HURRICANES DAMAGES DEATH TOLL DISASTER DISASTER REDUCTION DISASTER RELIEF EARTHQUAKE ECONOMIC CONDITIONS ECONOMIC GROWTH EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE EMISSION EMISSION PATH EMISSION SCENARIO EMISSIONS EMISSIONS PATH EMISSIONS SCENARIO EMISSIONS SCENARIOS EVACUATION EXTREME EVENT EXTREME EVENTS FATALITIES FLOOD FLOOD INSURANCE FLOODING FUTURE CLIMATE SCENARIOS GCM GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL GENERATOR GLOBAL CLIMATE GLOBAL EMISSIONS GLOBAL WARMING GREENHOUSE GREENHOUSE GAS GREENHOUSE GAS CONCENTRATIONS GREENHOUSE GAS MITIGATION HURRICANE HURRICANE CENTER HURRICANE DAMAGE HURRICANE FREQUENCY HURRICANE INTENSITY HURRICANES IMPACT OF CLIMATE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE INCOME INCREASE IN WIND SPEED INSURANCE COVERAGE INSURERS INTENSITY OF STORMS INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE IPCC LAND USE MAJOR HURRICANES MAXIMUM WIND SPEED METEOROLOGY NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE NATURAL DISASTERS NATURAL HAZARDS POLICY MAKERS PP PRESENT VALUE PROBABILITY DENSITY PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION PUBLIC ECONOMICS REAL ESTATE RISK ANALYSIS SCIENTISTS SEA LEVEL RISE SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES SEA WALLS SENSITIVITY ANALYSES SEVERE STORMS SOCIAL AFFAIRS SOLAR RADIATION STORM STORM DAMAGE STORM DAMAGES STORMS TEMPERATURE TROPICAL CYCLONE TROPICAL CYCLONE ACTIVITIES TROPICAL CYCLONE ACTIVITY TROPICAL CYCLONES VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE WEATHER WEATHER FORECASTING WIND WIND DIRECTION WIND PATTERNS WIND SHEAR WIND SPEEDS
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20111104100332 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3639

Description
Summary:	This paper quantifies hurricane damage caused by climate change across the US. A damage function is estimated from historic hurricane data to measure the impacts at each location given the storm's strength. The minimum barometric pressure of each storm turns out to be a better indicator of damages than the traditional measure of maximum wind speed. A hurricane generator in the Atlantic Ocean is then used to create 5000 storms with and without climate change. Combining the location and intensity of each storm with the income and population projected for each location, it is possible to estimate a detailed picture of how hurricanes will impact each state with and without climate change. Income and population growth alone increase expected baseline damage from $9 to $27 billion per year by 2100. Climate change is expected to increase damage by another $40 billion. Over 85 percent of these impacts are in Florida and the Gulf states. The 10 percent most damaging storms cause 93 percent of expected damage.