Global warming heats up nursery of hurricanes.A record number of tropical storms and hurricanes formed in the North Atlantic last year (SN: 12/24 & 31/05, p. 406). One factor driving this unprecedented activity was the unusually warm waters there, and global warming was largely to blame, says Kevin E. Trenberth Dr. Kevin E. Trenberth is head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He was a lead author of the 2001 and 2007 IPCC Scientific Assessment of Climate Change (see IPCC Fourth Assessment Report) and serves on the Scientific Steering Group for , an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is a non-governmental U.S.-based institute whose stated mission is "exploring and understanding our atmosphere and its interactions with the Sun, the oceans, the biosphere, and human society. in Boulder, Colo. Between June and October 2005, the average sea-surface temperature in the region between Africa and the Caribbean where such storms typically form was 0.92[degrees]C above the average recorded there between 1901 and 1970. That 70-year period predates a recent surge in temperatures worldwide, report Trenberth and Dennis J. Shea, also of the center. By analyzing oceanographic data gathered around the world, Trenberth and Shea estimate that less than 0.1[degrees]C of last year's North Atlantic temperature anomaly resulted from long-term variations in a regional climate cycle called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation The Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) is a hypothesised mode of natural variability occurring in the North Atlantic Ocean and which has its principle expression in the sea surface temperature (SST) field. . About 0.2[degrees]C stems from the aftereffects aftereffects after npl → Nachwirkungen pl of an El Nino. About 0.45[degrees]C comes from climate changes that boosted sea-surface temperatures worldwide. The remainder of the anomalous warmth, around 0.2[degrees]C, reflects normal year-to-year variation in weather, Trenberth and Shea report in the June 28 Geophysical Research Letters Geophysical Research Letters is a publication of the American Geophysical Union. GRL is the organization's only letters journal. Since its introduction in 1974, GRL has published only short research letters, typically 3-5 pages long, which focus on a specific discipline or .--S.P. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion