Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Structure Affecting Indochina Peninsula and Lower Mekong River Basin (LMB)

What is it about?

Indochina Peninsula is located in between Bay of Bengal (BoB) and South-China Sea (SCS). This region is affected frequently from Tropical Cyclones (TCs) formed in North Indian Ocean (NIO), South-China Sea (SCS), and North West Pacific Ocean (NWP). This research analyzed the structure of the rainfall over Indochina Peninsula and its relationships with TCs from the aforementioned sources. Spatial and Temporal structures of rainfall from the TCs is analyzed to understand their propagation. The results show that the dominant TC rainfall area covers Central Vietnam which contributed around 25 % to total rainfall in the region. However, the contribution of this TC rainfall over LMB is likely less than 20 % where Laos’s territory receives highest contribution (20%). Furthermore, from the three source areas, TCs formed in SCS produce the highest rain rate when they develop into typhoon intensity stage of Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)’s scale. The average duration of TC rainfall over Indochina Peninsula is 81.28 hours, and over LMB is 66.22 hours. Thus, same as other regions in the Indochina Peninsula, LMB is affected by TC rainfall with considerable scales both spatially and temporally that may lead to significant hydrometeorological hazards.

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Why is it important?

We show that Indochina Peninsula, as well as Lower Mekong River Basin (LMB) are affected by Tropical Cyclone (TC) rainfall spatially and temporally with sources from South-China Sea (SCS), North West Pacific Ocean (NWP), and Bay of Bengal (BoB). The dominant TC rainfall occurs in central Vietnam, and the TCs formed in SCS produce highest rate of rainfall which cause disasters in this region.

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