Effect of spatial scale on tropical cyclone damage function

Tropical cyclones (TC) and their economic cost risk under climate change are significant concerns globally. Previous studies on TC damage functions and risk assessment are mostly performed based on modelling TC-level damage and thus obtaining annual average loss (AAL) for a country or region. In this study, we used officially released data on reported damage in China to examine patterns of TC damage functions ranging in form and inclusion of risk components, from the county and provincial to TC scale. We find that the robustness of simulated damage increases with spatial scale. Further, TC-induced precipitation tended to be more significant in determining exposure and therefore economic cost of TC, especially at larger scales. Our work provides an empirical assessment of the role of observation scale and damage function in TC economic consequence evaluation and demonstrates that future TC risk at a larger scale may depend on the impact of socioeconomic change.