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Warmer Oceans linked to Stronger Hurricanes

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the raise-your-hand-if-you-are-shocked dept.

linguizic writes "According to Scientific American, global warming could be creating stronger hurricanes: 'Since the 1970s, ocean surface temperatures around the globe have been on the rise--from one half to one degree Fahrenheit, depending on the region. Last summer, two studies linked this temperature rise to stronger and more frequent hurricanes. Skeptics called other factors into account, such as natural variability, but a new statistical analysis shows that only this sea surface temperature increase explains this trend.'"

4 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. Um. . .Duh? by Limburgher · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Didn't we already know this? Was it a total mystery that having a patch of water over which hurricanes generate, say, the Gulf of Mexico, will serve to strengthen them? Was it a total mystery that climate change might bring about nasty consequences?

    Ok, well, for some people it was. :)

    --

    You are not the customer.

    1. Re:Um. . .Duh? by GooglePlexity · · Score: 5, Insightful

      and even if global warming was not mainly caused by human activity, that doesn't mean we shouldn't do everything possible to slow its rate.

    2. Re:Um. . .Duh? by codguy · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The fact of Global Warming isn't really in question.
      Let me applaud you on getting this correct because some still deny it is even occurring.
      There is extremely good evidence that the process is substantially if not entirely natural.
      But I won't let you get away with this because it is simply incorrect. The vast majority of the scientific community that has studied this has reached the conclusion that it is related to human activity. Even George W. Bush finally admitted before the start of the G8 summit last year that global warming was linked to human activity.

      Science, not just climate science, is overall a very conservative discipline. For the majority of the scientific community to have arrived at the conclusion that our planet is warming related to anthropogenic activity is not simply because a couple of scientists or even hundreds or thousands of scientists have said so. It is because an overwhelming amount of evidence from every corner of the globe has led them to this conclusion.

      Yes, there are still some climate scientists, by far a small minority, that still claim that either global warming is not occurring, or if so, it is not related to human activity. That's ok, that's part of the scientific process, and everybody has a different understanding of reasonable doubt. But as evidence continues to pour in day after day from around the globe, I think eventually even that small majority will have a change of opinion.

  2. Re:Wouldn't it be nice? by saforrest · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It sure would be nice if people could discuss science and not politics, especially for something so important. But I'm not holding my breath.

    Uh, is climate change not a political issue? Should we avoid political discussions whenever an issue is "important"? Seems like a strange idea to me.

    I think what you mean to say is that we should avoid political discussions that consist of braindead mudslinging (e.g. "Everyone who drives a car is a guilty of ecological genocide!", "If you criticize car culture, you're with the terrorists", etc., etc.).