Hurricanes vs. global warming
Last year's hurricane season sprouted an unusually high number of tropical storms — 15 in all. Some folks have blamed global climate change. But researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the increase is perfectly natural. Hurricanes follow a natural cycle, peaking every 15 to 40 years, then dropping back and becoming rarer again.
Other researchers disagree. They say rising global temperatures lead to warmer water, a key ingredient in forming hurricanes.
Few people doubt that the Earth's climate is growing warmer. But how much of that is just a natural cycle, and how much of it is caused by human activity? And what will all the effects of this change be? No one knows for sure. Meanwhile the debate, and research, go on.
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this is a very nice report.
Global warming is likely to increase the severity of tropical storms, especially since things literally "add up" in the sea, consider rogue waves for example. You can't say global warming caused Katrina, but you can say that the increased ocean temperatures and lower predictability of weather patterns added to it. And eventually the storms WILL be caused by it. In addition, major ocean currents of today will likely shift as a result, changing the lives of everything (including humans) that travels using those currents. If it occurs quickly, will evolution or adaptability have time??? Do you really want to see?
Oceans have actually gotten cooler in recent years.
Rogue waves and weather are completely unrelated phenomena.
If global warming definitely will cause more storms, and/or more severe storms, then why were hurricanes so rare during the warmest years of the late '90s / early '00s?
If global warming is causing hurricanes, shouldn't we learn from Katrina?!??!!!!!
Im glad someone said this, because as most people in the scientific community know that we humans are in a losing battle with time (that sort-of dimension). We that are here now are probably not going to be around when enough evidence is compiled to determine if the temps. of Earth are rising now because of greenhouse gasses or a natural cycle. So as the Scientific Process goes we will have to continue to hypothesize and test why the Earths climate has recently (100 years or so) risen in average tempurature.
Thank you for posting this. Everyone thinks its Global Warming thats making these hurricanes ocur. its a natural cycle. as the sun gets older, (which its doing right now) it gets hotter which also means that the ocean temperatures are going to get hotter. its not only the humans fault. its also a natural process!!!!!!!!!
This morning, I read a New York Times article on hurricanes and global warming ("Will warming lead to a rise in hurricanes?"). It began:
If you're interested in the debate about whether or not global warming is affecting the frequency and severity of tropical storms, give it a read.
Global warming is nothing but a multi-million dollar industry. The scientists do say it is real, but almost only to get extra funding. A scientist saying global warming is real just about always equals more money for his department. Hurricanes follow a patter (as stated in the article) and the temp. of the water has actually been going down over the past few years. Besides, co2 is such a minor componant of greenhouse gasses, it has little to no effect. If you are really worried about greenhouse gas, clouds are what you should be looking at. What causes more clouds is what is going to really make greenhouse gas have a larger effect on temp. gain.
Global warming is certainly a global issue that needs a global solution. The Global warming occurs due to rise in the temperature around the earths atmosphere. A hurricane is an powerful tropical storm. Tropical storms form over warm tropical oceans during periods when local sea surface temperatures are over 26.5 °C [80 °F]. Under these conditions, evaporation from the ocean surface generates very high humidity in the atmosphere, which in turn generates thunderstorms.
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