11-11-2006 - Earth

sagar: Author=’Jorge Salazar, Deborah Byrd’ program=’5006′ video=”Hurricanes can be a devestating force of nature, as witnessed by the violence of Katrina in 2005. But humans also lend a hand in warming up the waters where hurricanes form, according to a study by the Proceedings of the Nartional Academies of Sciences. Using results from the world’s top climate computer models, Tom Wigley of the National Center for Atmospheric Research told Earth & Sky that the observed warming of hurricane-breeding waters “cannot be caused by natural fluctuations, which just leaves human factors as the dominant cause.”_DB:_ I’m Deborah Byrd.

_JB:_ And I’m Joel Block, on the continuing controversy about humanity’s effect on hurricanes. Warm ocean waters fuel hurricanes. And, although not everyone believes it, the evidence indicates that hurricanes have gotten stronger.

_DB:_ In the past couple of years, evidence has been piling up that human activities are helping make hurricanes stronger. For example, a study released on September 11, 2006 ruled out “natural causes” as the primary reason why ocean waters have warmed where hurricanes form over the last 100 years.

_Tom Wigley:_ … the changes cannot be caused by natural fluctuations, which just leaves human factors as the dominant cause.

_JB:_ That’s Tom Wigley, a climate scientist and study co-author. He said those “human factors” include more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, from burning fossil fuels.

_Tom Wigley:_ The real question is what’s going to happen in the future … I’ll just give you a central estimate. If the warming has been 0.7 of a degree Celsius over the last 100 years, the warming for the next hundred years is probably going to be about four times that much. So that should give people cause for concern about climate change in general and what we can do to slow down the rate of warming.

_DB:_ Do you think human activity can make hurricanes stronger? Tell us what you think at earthsky.org. Our thanks today to “NASA”:http://www.nasa.gov. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth & Sky.

Written by EarthSky

4 Responses to “Private: Are humans causing stronger hurricanes?”

1. Jeff says:

   November 12, 2006 at 10:12 am

   I think human factors are definitely the main cause to make our environment change heavily. With the rapid growth of economic development and the progress of convenient transportation, we do live in a comfortable society. The nature we deeply depend on, however, responds to the human activity in a overwhelming way that people can’t withstand. As we look for the civil development and comfort of our life, we should pay more attention to our environment and think the mode to coexist with our lovely nature.

   Reply
2. Marian Marchun says:

   November 12, 2006 at 1:14 pm

   Your one sided approach to the problem of global warming is definitely predjudiced. Banntering only one theory does not make it true. NPR needs to bring aboard other scientists who have studied this from a universal angle. The sun and its activity in conjunction with the earth’s core, volcanic activity, and the oceans dictate our weather and climatic changes, and these are cyclic and far beyond human beings’ control or influence. These cycles have gone on for thousands of years. The assertion that emissions from our fuels can affect global climate changes is like a child thinking the toy chime from his tricycle can make the earth shake. Mankind is powerful but not omnipotent. Please provide your listeners with the other side of reasoning and scientific research!

   Reply
3. Alex says:

   November 13, 2006 at 1:29 am

   Marian Marchun maybe you should provide some facts that support your argument from peer reviewed journals. You assertion that “the sun and its activity in conjunction with the earth’s core, volcanic activity, and the oceans dictate our weather and climatic changes, and these are cyclic and far beyond human beings’ control or influence” is is flawed. Humans have been affecting nature and the earth for hundreds of years in all different fashions, on the small scale from changing the flow of rivers (eg mekong), to the global scale polluting the earth’s ocean, dessertification, causing massive extinction episode that we are currently experiencing, and the big one > the ozone layer. I think there is ample evidence that we have the ability to destroy the earth ie nukes. Your attitude is simplistic. This was the attitude of fishermen in the old days. The ocean is so vast we don’t have to worry about overfishing.

   Reply
4. Rubylikeaflame says:

   November 13, 2006 at 2:45 pm

   No kidding! It only makes sense that people can affect what’s around us on Earth. What about “urban heat islands,’ for example? And in the Great Depression when people overfarmed the land and made the “dust bowl.”

   Ruby

   Reply