Recent violent hurricanes could be linked to climate change
Submitted by Gina on August 28, 2011 - 2:16pm
Scientists conceive that the intensity of hurricanes is most likely to become severe in the future as the planet continues to warm up and the catastrophic hurricane like Irene are being viewed as a precursor.
An apparent rise in the frequency and intensity of storms, especially since 1970s, has led to counterpointing views amongst experts on whether the rise could be linked to altering human activities or not.
Differing views on hurricane linkage with climate change
Kerry Emanuel, an expert on the issue at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in his review shared that “On a longer time scale, I think — but not all of my colleagues agree — that the evidence for a connection between Atlantic hurricanes and global climate change is fairly compelling,”
On the other hand, amongst those with differing views is Thomas R. Knutson, a federal researcher at the government’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Knutson viewed that the rising trend in hurricane is too recent to be concluded for its future intensities. Again, the rise could also be attributed to natural variability on the earth.
In the words of Mr. Knutson, “Everyone sort of agrees on this short-term trend, but then the agreement starts to break down when you go back longer-term,”
Although, the linkage is too premature, impact on hurricanes due to altering human activity could eventually be established. The magnitude at which hurricanes are likely to rise is not known by either of the differing group, however their intensity is likely to rise, agreed both.
