Vincent E. M. auteur aut IRD Emanuel K. A. auteur aut IRD Lengaigne Matthieu auteur aut IRD Vialard Jérôme auteur aut IRD Madec G. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf born digital access Climate modes, such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), influence Tropical Cyclones (TCs) interannual activity through their effect on large-scale atmospheric environment. These climate modes also induce interannual variations of subsurface oceanic stratification, which may also influence TCs. Changes in oceanic stratification indeed modulate the amplitude of TCs-induced cooling, and hence the negative feedback of air-sea interactions on the TC intensity. Here we use a dynamical downscaling approach that couples an axisymmetric TC model to a simple ocean model to quantify this interannual oceanic control on TC activity. We perform twin experiments with contrasted oceanic stratifications representative of interannual variability in each TC-prone region. While subsurface oceanic variations do not significantly affect the number of moderate (Category 3 or less) TCs, they do induce a 30% change of Category 5 TC-days globally, and a 70% change for TCs exceeding 85 m s(-1). TCs in the western Pacific and the southwestern Indian Ocean are most sensitive to oceanic interannual variability (with a similar to 10 m s(-1) modulation of the intensity of strongest storms at low latitude), owing to large upper ocean variations in response to ENSO. These results imply that a representation of ocean stratification variability should benefit operational forecasts of intense TCs and the understanding of their climatic variability. specialized ZONE TROPICALE 032 020 021 6 3 680-699 2014 1942-2466 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010062682 10.1002/2014ms000327 1942-2466 [F B010062682] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010062682 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2014/12/010062682.pdf Accès réservé (Intranet de l'IRD) IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2015-01-12 2017-08-23 fdi:010062682 fre