Tropical cyclone wind exposure in the United States from 1900-2016 (NCEI Accession 0189363)

The gridded data represent modeled, historical exposure of U.S. offshore, coastal, and international waters to tropical cyclone activity within the North Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins (1900-2016). BOEM Outer Continental Shelf Lease Blocks and equivalent areas for coastal and international waters were used to construct the grid by which exposure was quantified. Exposure was quantified using intersecting storm tracks, overlapping wind intensity areas, and mathematical return intervals. Symbology is based on the modeled occurrence of tropical storm force (34-knot) or greater winds per grid cell. Due to the way winds were calculated differently over land and over water, the interpretation of wind exposure metrics within coastal areas should be interpreted carefully. Data represent past climatology only and do not suggest predicted future impacts or exposure.

The storm segments data represent a unique subset of the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) data set. Features represent IBTrACS storm track segments that 1) are attributed to the North Atlantic or Eastern Pacific basins; 2) do not cross the International Date Line; 3) occur in or after 1900 (through 2016); 4) have maximum wind values above 33 knots; and 5) are attributed as extratropical, subtropical, or tropical. Furthermore, those storm segments that were attributed as tropical within the source data were modified to the appropriate storm category based on the maximum wind speed value per segment.