When a hurricane strikes land, the destruction of property and the environment and the loss of life are largely confined to a narrow coastal area. This is because hurricanes are fuelled by moisture from the ocean1-3, and so hurricane intensity decays rapidly after striking land4,5. In contrast to the effect of a warming climate on hurricane intensification, many aspects of which are fairly well understood6-10, little is known of its effect on hurricane decay. Here we analyse intensity data for North Atlantic landfalling hurricanes11 over the past 50 years and show that hurricane decay has slowed, and that the slowdown in the decay over time is in direct proportion to a contemporaneous rise in the sea surface temperature12. Thus, whereas in the late 1960s a typical hurricane lost about 75 per cent of its intensity in the first day past landfall, now the corresponding decay is only about 50 per cent. We also show, using computational simulations, that warmer sea surface temperatures induce a slower decay by increasing the stock of moisture that a hurricane carries as it hits land. This stored moisture constitutes a source of heat that is not considered in theoretical models of decay13-15. Additionally, we show that climate-modulated changes in hurricane tracks16,17 contribute to the increasingly slow decay. Our findings suggest that as the world continues to warm, the destructive power of hurricanes will extend progressively farther inland.

中文翻译：

---

在变暖的世界中登陆飓风的衰减速度较慢

当飓风袭击陆地时，财产和环境的破坏以及生命的损失主要局限于狭窄的沿海地区。这是因为飓风是由海洋 1-3 中的水分推动的，因此飓风强度在袭击陆地 4,5 后迅速衰减。与气候变暖对飓风增强的影响相比，其中许多方面都相当清楚 6-10，但人们对其对飓风衰减的影响知之甚少。在这里，我们分析了过去 50 年北大西洋登陆飓风 11 的强度数据，并表明飓风衰减已经放缓，并且随着时间的推移衰减的放缓与海表温度的同期上升成正比 12。因此，虽然在 1960 年代后期，典型的飓风在登陆后的第一天就失去了约 75% 的强度，现在相应的衰减只有大约 50%。我们还使用计算模拟表明，通过增加飓风袭击陆地时携带的水分存量，较高的海面温度会导致较慢的衰减。这种储存的水分构成了衰变理论模型中未考虑的热源13-15。此外，我们表明，飓风轨道16、17 中气候调节的变化导致了越来越慢的衰减。我们的研究结果表明，随着世界继续变暖，飓风的破坏力将逐渐向内陆延伸。这种储存的水分构成了衰变理论模型中未考虑的热源13-15。此外，我们表明，飓风轨道16、17 中气候调节的变化导致了越来越慢的衰减。我们的研究结果表明，随着世界继续变暖，飓风的破坏力将逐渐向内陆延伸。这种储存的水分构成了衰变理论模型中未考虑的热源13-15。此外，我们表明，飓风轨道16、17 中气候调节的变化导致了越来越慢的衰减。我们的研究结果表明，随着世界继续变暖，飓风的破坏力将逐渐向内陆延伸。