Climate change is a hot topic today due to the rising global temperature. However, that is not the only concern associated with climate change, as a new study shows that hurricanes have grown stronger.
Study shows hurricanes have become stronger in recent years
According to researchers, hurricane winds are growing stronger in almost every place worldwide, leading to devastating storms. Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Center for Environmental Information and the University of Madison-Wisconsin analyzed hurricane satellite image data from almost 40 years to conclude. The rising temperatures are all to blame for this trend.
NOAA scientist at UW-Madison and lead study authors James Kossin said that through atmospheric physics knowledge and modelling, the study confirms what is expected in a warming climate. The findings were consistent with the results of an early project by Kossin in 2013. However, the 2013 data was inconclusive, necessitating the inclusion of data on hurricanes over an extended period of time.
Notably, to get conclusive data, the latest project reviewed hurricane data across the globe from 1979 to 2017. Researchers employed various complex analytical approaches to create a comprehensive data set to evaluate.
Changes in technology used to collect data over time were the main challenge in finding trends in the collected data. Every year a different technology and new tools are used to collect data, leading to a patchwork quilt of satellite data woven together.
Hurricane storms change in speed and places they travel
Past research shows that hurricanes might be changing not only in strength but also in the speed and places they travel. Kossin noted in 2014 that most hurricanes were travelling north-south and were making contact with a coast that would in the past have gone untouched. In 2018 he demonstrated that hurricanes travel slower on land because of rising temperatures.
Kossin concluded that the findings demonstrate that hurricanes have become stronger globally in line with how the storms will respond to earth’s warming climate.
