Climate Change, Eco Research, Featured - Friday, September 5, 2008 9:57 - 2 Comments

Warmer Seas Linked to Strengthening Hurricanes

The theory that global warming may be contributing to stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic over the past 30 years is bolstered by a new study led by a Florida State University researcher.

The study will be published in the Sept. 4 edition of the journal Nature. Using global satellite data, FSU geography Professor James B. Elsner, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor James P. Kossin and FSU postdoctoral researcher Thomas H. Jagger found that the strongest tropical cyclones are, in fact, getting stronger — and that ocean temperatures play a role in driving this trend.

This is consistent with the ‘heat-engine’ theory of cyclone intensity. Continue…