Complexity Digest 2008.36 - 14

4-Sept-2008

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Mighty Hurricanes Get Mightier, Science News Bookmark and Share

Excerpts:
The strongest North Atlantic hurricanes, such as 2005's Wilma (seen in visible light at left and in false color denoting cloud heights at right), have been getting even stronger in recent years, a new analysis suggests.Full Story Credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team
The researchers found that the largest increases in cyclone peak winds were in the North Atlantic and eastern North Pacific oceans, regions where sea surface temperatures had warmed from 1981 to 2006.

Cyclones are essentially heat engines that extract power from warm seas, says Kossin. The larger the temperature difference between the ocean surface and the upper atmosphere, the larger a cyclone can become, he notes.