Precipitation events have been occurring more frequently in the hyper-arid region of the Taklamakan Desert (TD) under recent climate change. However, in this water-limited environment, the microphysical characteristics of precipitation, as well as their link to rainfall intensity, remain unclear. To address this, this study utilizes dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) data of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite from 2014 to 2023 to analyze the microphysical characteristics of different precipitation types (stratiform and convective) in the TD during the summer. The results show that liquid water path (LWP) is a key factor influencing precipitation type: when LWP is insufficient, stratiform precipitation is more likely to occur (84.1%), while convective precipitation is difficult to occur (15.9%). Microphysical process analysis indicates that in convective precipitation, abundant low-level moisture leads to the growth of liquid particles primarily through the collision–coalescence process (59.7%), resulting in larger raindrop diameters (1.7 mm) and lower concentrations (31.9 mm⁻¹ m⁻³). In contrast, stratiform precipitation, with limited LWP, primarily involves the melting and breaking-up of high-level ice-phase particles, leading to smaller raindrop diameters (1.2 mm) and higher concentrations (34.3 mm⁻¹ m⁻³). The warm rain process plays a significant role in raindrop formation in both types of precipitation. The greater (lesser) the amount of LWP, the larger (smaller) the contribution of collision–coalescence (break-up) processes, and the larger (smaller) the raindrop diameter and precipitation intensity.

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are among the deadliest disasters affecting human society, and their response to climate change has widely drawn attention from the public. However, assessing how historical TC activity changed with climate change has proven challenging due to incomplete TC records in the early years. Here, we introduce the Reanalysis-Based Global Tropical Cyclone Tracks Dataset for the Twentieth Century (RGTracks-20C) (Ye et al., 2024), a publicly available century- long global TC track dataset spanning from 1850–2014. The RGTracks-20C is reconstructed from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Twentieth Century Reanalysis using two independent TC tracking algorithms. Validation based on observations confirms that the RGTracks- 20C effectively captures the climatology and long-term variability of TC numbers, tracks, duration, and intensity across various ocean basins. A remarkable key strength of the RGTracks-20C is its ability to fill the missing intensity and location records of TCs observed in early years. This dataset serves as a valuable historical data reference for future research on climate change and TC-related disasters.

Given the large impacts of tropical cyclones (TCs) on human society, the response of TC activity to climate change has widely drawn attention from both society and scientists. However, assessing how historical TC activity, especially intensity, evolved with climate change has proven challenging due to incomplete TC records in the early years. Here, we introduce the Reanalysis-Based Global Tropical Cyclone Tracks Dataset for the Twentieth Century (RGTracks-20C), which is reconstructed from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CRv3) using two tropical cyclone tracking algorithms. Validations based on observations in the modern satellite era verify the ability of the RGTracks-20C to capture the climatology and long-term variability of TC numbers, tracks, duration, and intensity across various ocean basins. Furthermore, the RGTracks-20C fills the gaps of the incomplete TC track information, including position and intensity, in the early observational data. The RGTracks-20C is the first publicly available reanalysis-based century-long global TC track dataset, providing an alternative data reference for future research about climate change and TC-related disasters.

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are among the deadliest disasters affecting human society, reconstructing their historical activity has become increasingly important. However, a comprehensive understanding of historical TC activity is challenging due to incomplete TC records in the early years. Here, we introduce the Reanalysis-Based Global Tropical Cyclone Tracks Dataset for the Twentieth Century (RGTracks-20C) (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14411917, Ye et al., 2024a), a publicly available century-long global TC track dataset spanning from 1850–2014. The first version of RGTracks-20C is reconstructed from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CRv3) primarily using the Okubo–Weiss–Zeta (OWZ) tracker. RGTracks-20C provides a reasonable representation of TC climatology and interannual variability across the global ocean and most major basins during the satellite era. Case studies further highlight its value in providing supplementary track and intensity information for earlier periods when the historical record is sparse or incomplete. RGTracks-20C therefore offers a useful resource for augmenting the historical TC record prior to the satellite era.

The sudden turn of tropical cyclones (TCs) can rapidly alter the affected disaster-prone regions and associated rainfall distributions, posing severe threats to coastal areas and creating major challenges for operational forecasting. However, most of these events occur over the open ocean, where the scarcity of in situ observations limits our understanding of how precipitation and cloud microphysical processes evolve during the sudden turning. In this study, we analyzed the precipitation evolution and associated microphysical characteristics during the sudden turn of Super Typhoon Vongfong (2014) using the latest GPM satellite observations. The main findings are as follows: (1) During the sudden-turning period, the precipitation coverage expanded significantly. Strong convective precipitation was distributed from the inner eyewall to the outer eyewall and spiral rainbands and weakened in intensity, whereas stratiform precipitation broadened in coverage and intensified. (2) The increase in stratiform precipitation was attributed primarily to increased cloud water content, which strengthened collision–coalescence processes, promoted the formation of larger and more numerous raindrops, and consequently increased precipitation efficiency and intensity. (3) The weakening of convective precipitation was related to the reduction in eyewall updrafts, which suppressed ice-phase processes and limited the development of deep convection.