[greenyes] Climate Disruption - Effect on Strength of Hurricanes

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

 from the August 01, 2005 edition
As planet warms, storms grow stronger
Scientists see evidence that hurricanes and typhoons have intensified. Are 
new responses needed?
By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
For years, hurricanes and typhoons have served as poster children for the 
hazards of global warming.
When simulated tropical storms churn inside the silicon universe of 
researchers' computers, such cyclones grow in power, and sometimes in number 
as well, as tropical temperatures increase. But when researchers have looked 
for global warming's fingerprints on real tropical cyclones, the evidence 
often has been inconclusive.
Now, one of the top researchers in the field reports that worldwide, these 
storms are nearly twice as powerful today as they were 30 years ago. Global 
warming has intensified the trend, exerting an influence stronger than he 
would have believed even a few months ago, he says.
"I'd been thinking of a very modest response" of tropical cyclones to 
climate change, "and what we're seeing is not so modest," says Kerry 
Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.
The upshot: The 21st century could be a rough one for people who settle in 
hurricane or typhoon-prone areas.
FOR FULL ARTICLE:  - http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0801/p03s01-sten.html
_________________________
Peter Anderson, President
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING
4513 Vernon Blvd. Suite 15
Madison, WI 53705-4964
Ph: (608) 231-1100
Fax: (608) 233-0011
Cell: (608) 698-1314
eMail: anderson@no.address
web: www.recycleworlds.net