the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The influence of anthropogenic climate change on Super Typhoon Odette (Typhoon Rai) and its impacts in the Philippines
Abstract. Super Typhoon Odette (Typhoon Rai) made landfall in the Philippines as a category 5 tropical cyclone on 16th December 2021. It brought the compounding effects of extreme rainfall, high winds and storm surge to large parts of the southern-central Philippines, particularly Cebu and Bohol. It was the second costliest typhoon on record for the Philippines up until 2021, causing nearly a billion dollars (US) in direct damage and widespread disruption. In this study, the extreme rainfall and high winds observed during this storm are assessed to determine the influence of anthropogenic climate change (ACC), using three different methods, which focus on the circulation patterns, high rainfall and strong winds associated with Odette, respectively. First, we check that the current generation of higher resolution models used in attribution studies can capture the low sea level pressure anomaly associated with Typhoon Odette and hence can be used to study this type of event. A short analysis then compares such circulation analogues and the associated meteorological extremes over three time periods: past (1950–1970), contemporary (2001–2021), and future (2030–2050). Second, a multi-method multi-model probabilistic event attribution finds that extreme daily rainfall such as that observed during Typhoon Odette has become about twice as likely during the Typhoon season over the southern-central Philippines due to ACC. Third, a large ensemble tropical cyclone hazard model finds that the wind speeds of category 5 landfalling typhoons like Odette have become approximately 70 % more likely due to ACC. The combined results show that both extreme rainfall and wind speeds in the Philippines due to storms like Odette have become significantly more likely and intense due to ACC. Based on these results and compound event attribution theory, we further conclude that ACC has likely more than doubled the likelihood of a compound event like Typhoon Odette. Finally, while the impacts were caused by a range of factors including exposure and vulnerability, ACC played a significant role in amplifying the damage, and this risk will very likely continue to grow with increasing levels of warming.
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Status: final response (author comments only)
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-665', Anonymous Referee #1, 23 Jul 2025
Dear Authors,
The topic of your paper is interesting, and it’s clear that a considerable amount of work went into the analysis. However, in its current form, the manuscript is not yet suitable for submission to a scientific journal.
The text reads more like a student report than a paper intended for the international scientific community. Scientific writing conventions are not followed throughout. Much of the text overlaps or explains basic concepts that a scientific reader would already be familiar with. The manuscript could be significantly shortened by focusing on the key ideas and results.
None of the figures include proper panel labelling or have captions that are clear and complete. Several figures are not referenced in the main text or are placed in sections where they interrupt the flow.
It is not the role of the reviewer to teach scientific writing. I recommend a full rewrite of the manuscript, with the appropriate audience in mind. This includes restructuring the text, tightening the writing, and ensuring that all figures are correctly formatted and integrated into the narrative.
While I must reject the manuscript in its current form, I encourage a thorough revision and re-submission, and I would be glad to review a substantially improved version.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-665-RC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Ben Clarke, 08 Aug 2025
We thank the reviewer for their consideration of the manuscript and will undertake a substantial restructuring and rewriting. We agree that the text is too lengthy in places and will aim to align the different sections more closely. We will revise the figures heavily, improving their quality, labelling and captions, as well as reducing the number of figures and ensuring they are integrated into the flow of the paper.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-665-AC1
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AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Ben Clarke, 08 Aug 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-665', Anonymous Referee #2, 23 Jul 2025
Please find my comments attached. Best regards.
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AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Ben Clarke, 08 Aug 2025
We thank the reviewer for their detailed feedback and will make several revisions in line with their comments. In particular, we will undertake the following major changes:
- Synthesise the results from the different methods more clearly within the final section of the paper, before discussing further implications
- Align the different sections in structure to improve the consistency and flow of the article, with distinct ‘Methods’ and ‘Results’ subsections for each
- Rewrite and restructure the text into a more concise form, particularly removing unnecessary context from the introduction and ensuring a tighter narrative flow
- Rethink figures in the article – this includes moving some figures into supplementary material (e.g. Figs. 4, 7, 15), reproducing figures at higher resolution (e.g. Fig. 5), reworking some figures (e.g. Fig. 6), and merging several figures together (Figs.8&9, 10-12, 13&14)
We agree with almost all of the specific and technical comments raised by the reviewer and will correct, clarify and respond to these accordingly.Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-665-AC2
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AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Ben Clarke, 08 Aug 2025
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