Global Warming = Strong Hurricanes

Reported February 2008

BOULDER, Colo. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- According to new research, hurricanes in the North Atlantic are stronger and larger than ever before. Scientists now say they know what's to blame.

Winds topping over 75 miles per hour … rain slamming down … waves crashing into the coast!

Some climate scientists believe hurricanes in the North Atlantic loom more dangerous than ever. But now they say … they think know why.

"Since about 1970, there has been a warming of the global oceans including the areas where the hurricanes form due to increases in carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," Kevin Trenberth, NCAR Scientist in Boulder, Colo., told Ivanhoe.

Trenberth builds his case asking the tough questions. "Do they get more intense? Do they get bigger? Do they last longer? Are there more of them?" Trenberth asks.

Over the past 35 years, the Atlantic's sea surface temperature has increased one degree Fahrenheit. The result … a four-percent increase of atmospheric water vapor and a six to eight-percent increase in rainfall. Conditions that contribute to larger, more forceful, hurricanes.

The cause -- Trenberth says predominantly global warming. "What we think is likely to happen, they will get more intense, they will likely get a little bigger, but maybe there may not be quite as many," Trenberth said.

Other scientists aren't so convinced and believe the warming is a natural occurrence, but either way -- a forecast for the future that impacts us all.

The American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Dr. Kevin Trenberth
Head Climate Analysis Section, NCAR
(303) 497 1318
trenbert@ucar.edu

American Meteorological Society
Boston, MA 02108-3693
(617) 227-2425
http://www.ametsoc.org

American Geophysical Union
Washington, DC 20009-1277
1-800-966-2481
http://www.agu.org

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