by Playfuls Staff |
28th February 2007
U.S.
atmospheric scientists say they've found new evidence to support the theory
that global warming produces stronger
Atlantic Ocean
hurricanes.[more]
However, the researchers say the trend is confined to the Atlantic
Ocean and apparently does not occur in any of the world's other
oceans.
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the
U.S. National Climatic Data Center say their research should help resolve some
of the controversy concerning global warming and the onset of increasingly
intense hurricanes.
"The debate is not about scientific methods but instead
centers around the quality of hurricane data," said lead author James Kossin,
a research scientist at University of Wisconsin-Madison's Cooperative Institute
for Meteorological Satellite Studies.
Working with global satellite data from 1983-2005, the
researchers simplified newer and technologically advanced satellite information
and aligned it with older records.
"The data says the Atlantic has
been trending upwards in hurricane intensity quite a bit," he said.
"But the trends appear to be inflated or spurious everywhere else, meaning
that we still can't make any global statements."
The scientists detail their findings in the journal
Geophysical Research Letters.
© 2007 UPI
