 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
. |
Paris (AFP) Feb 21, 2010 Tropical cyclones may become less frequent this century but pack a stronger punch as a result of global warming, a paper published on Sunday said. The study is an overview of work into one of the scariest yet also one of the least understood aspects of climate change. Known in the Atlantic as hurricanes and in eastern Asia as typhoons, tropical storms are driven by the raw fuel of warm seas, which raises the question about what may happen when temperatures rise as a result of greenhouse gases. Tom Knutson and colleagues from the UN's World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) looked at peer-reviewed investigations that have appeared over the past four years, when the issue began to hit the headlines. Their benchmark for warming is the "A1B" scenario, a middle-of-the-road computer simulation which predicts a global average surface temperature rise of 2.8 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the 21st century. "It is likely that the global frequency of tropical cyclones will either decrease or remain essentially unchanged," says the paper. But storms could have more powerful winds -- an increase of between two and 11 percent -- and dump more water, it warns. Rainfall could increase by 20 percent within 100 kilometres (62 miles) of the eye of the storm. In addition, some storm basins will "more likely than not" see a big increase in the frequency of high-impact storms. The overview calls for an effort to fill in some big gaps in knowledge, including the variability of cyclones in the past and how global warming will affect storm behaviour in specific regions. It is published online by Nature Geoscience, a journal of Britain's Nature Publishing Group. The findings broadly concur with those of the UN's panel of climate scientists, which in a 2007 report said it was "likely" that tropical cyclones would become more intense this century, with heavier rainfall and stronger wind speeds. However, the panel said it was less confident in concluding whether the number of cyclones would decrease.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters When the Earth Quakes A world of storm and tempest
Tonga mops up after Cyclone ReneNuku'Alofa (AFP) Feb 16, 2010 Tonga started counting the cost Tuesday of a powerful cyclone which swept through the Pacific island group, damaging buildings, destroying crops and knocking out power and communications. "There have been no reports of injuries or fatalities on the main island (of Tongatapu)," National Disaster Management Office deputy director Maliu Takai said, after Cyclone Rene swept through Tonga's main ... read more |
. |
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook