Study Ties Warming to Intense Hurricanes

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2006/sep/11/091101529.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Most of the increase in ocean temperature that feeds more intense hurricanes is a result of human-induced global warming, says a study that one researcher says "closes the loop" between climate change and powerful storms like Katrina.

A series of studies over the past year or so have shown an increase in the power of hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a strengthening that storm experts say is tied to rising sea-surface temperatures.

And most of that temperature increase can be blamed on global warming caused by human activities such as automobile and industrial pollution, scientists report in Wednesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The work that we've done kind of closes the loop here," said Tom Wigley of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., a co-author of the paper.

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[Bobbieo]

1. That conclusion is so obvious!

[patrice]

2. Needs to be replicated. Peer review yada, yada . . .

[Warpy]

3. Too bad this year has been so blah, so far

because it's making them look like hysterics.

We're only up to Gordon, and it looks like that one won't get past tropical storm and will stay out to see. It's already falling apart. Frances is staying out at sea, may clip southern Newfoundland as it loses its punch.

Everything coming off the coast of Africa is washing out, not reforming until it's off the west coast of Mexico. The Pacific season has been a stinker.