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[Skwiril]

Ga pati kamo sini? Sleng nila mga bagyo maga dalagko na gid tungod sa global warming.


Is Global Warming Fueling Katrina?

Warm ocean temperatures are a key ingredient for monster hurricanes, prompting some scientists to believe that global warming is exacerbating our storm troubles.

The people of New Orleans are surely not thinking about wind vortices, the coriolis effect or the dampness of the troposphere as they hunker down during hurricane Katrina this morning. They’re mostly thinking about the savage rains and 140 mph winds that have driven them from their homes. But it’s that meteorological arcana that’s made such a mess of the bayou, and to hear a lot of people tell it, we have only ourselves—and our global-warming ways—to blame.

One thing’s for sure: hurricanes were around a long, long time before human beings began chopping down rainforests and fouling the atmosphere. To get such a tempest going, you don’t need much more than ocean temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit; a cool, wet atmosphere above and a warm, wet one near the surface; and a preexisting weather disturbance with a bit of spin to it far enough from the equator (at least 300 miles) so that the rotation of the Earth amplifies the rotation of the storm. The more intense the storm becomes, the more the temperature of its core climbs, accelerating the spin, exacerbating the storm, and leading to the meteorological violence we call a hurricane. And violent it can be: The heat released in an average hurricane can equal the electricity produced by the U.S. in a single year.

So is global warming making the problem worse? Superficially, the numbers say yes—or at least they seem to if you live in the U.S. From 1995 to 1999, a record 33 hurricanes struck the Atlantic basin, and that doesn’t include 1992’s horrific Hurricane Andrew, which clawed its way across south Florida in 1992, causing $27 billion dollars worth of damage. More-frequent hurricanes are part of most global warming models, and as mean temperatures rise worldwide, it’s hard not to make a connection between the two. But hurricane-scale storms occur all over the world, and in some places—including the North Indian ocean and the region near Australia—the number has actually fallen. Even in the U.S., the period from 1991 to 1994 was a time of record hurricane quietude, with the dramatic exception of Andrew.

Just why some areas of the world get hit harder than others at different times is impossible to say. Everything from random atmospheric fluctuations to the periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean known as El Nino can be responsible. But even if all these variables have combined to keep the number of hurricanes worldwide about the same, the storms do appear to be more intense. One especially sobering study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that hurricane wind speeds have increased about 50% in the past 50 years. And since warm oceans are such a critical ingredient in hurricane formation, anything that gets the water warming more could get the storms growing worse. Global warming, in theory at least, would be more than sufficient to do that. While the people of New Orleans may not see another hurricane for years, the next one they do see could make even Katrina look mild.

(from Times.com)

More...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051001/ap_on_sc/cycle_of_disaster

[kRaiMer12]

i believe this causes not just hurricanes but tornadoes as well. speaking of hurricane andrew, i've seen just the other day the fateful event on the National Geographic channel when it hit the coast of Florida. since the chief cause of this warming is thought to be the burning of fossil fuels, oil, and natural gases which i believe plays an important role to the industry, paano karon ini maminimize?

[Gogo Yubari]

I also believe that this causes hurricanes. Ang gina kulbaan pa guid na global warming effect sang mga environmentali sts & scientists ang melting sang polar caps or the Artic Regions kay basi mag baha ang world.

[bernardo]

i believe this causes not just hurricanes but tornadoes as well. speaking of hurricane andrew, i've seen just the other day the fateful event on the National Geographic channel when it hit the coast of Florida. since the chief cause of this warming is thought to be the burning of fossil fuels, oil, and natural gases which i believe plays an important role to the industry, paano karon ini maminimize?

hay in every thing we do my mga consequences gid.. if we use nuclear plant mas delikado pagid.. maybe in the future maka dikobre ang tawo sang maayo nga source of energy.. besides solar and wind mill kag iban pa..

[ElvenProdigy]

I think our planet's really going through global warming right now, and what's even stranger is that after seeing The Day After Tomorrow, which is about what the earth may go through given a catastrophic case of global warming, it just made me think. The signs of global warming and a meltdown are tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes.

Sounds familiar? We've had the SE Asia tsunami, the earthquake in Pakistan, and just recently hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the West. How freaky is that?

[bernardo]

if it will happen, i wonder who will survive.. 

[ZaRiA]

what is your opinion about global warming??? is it really happening? Is Global warming a real phenomenon?  Lets see what you know!

[love]

ZaRia ... whether we like it or not ... the cycle is on... whether our Earth is inhabited or not ... still it is subjected to a 42,000-year  cycle from freezing to melting of polar ice... or vice versa. In contrary ... we must be thankful to it ... coz most likely it was the mechanism that triggered lifeforms on this planet.

[whakapapa]

nakalantaw kamo a day after tomorrow? this is indeed possible...

[mei mei]

2005 was the warmest year ever recorded, beating the previous record high set in 1998 and continue a general trend of rising temperatures dating back to 1980.

In May 2005, scientists concluded the Earth is absorbing more of the sun's energy than is being emitted back into space, disrupting the planet's energy balance and resulting in global warming.

Scientists agree the Earth's climate is being directly affected by human activity, and for many people around the world, these changes are having negative effects. Carbon dioxide levels today are nearly 30 percent higher than they were prior to the start of the Industrial Revolution, based on records extending back 650,000 years.

According to NASA, the polar ice cap is now melting at the rate of 9 percent per decade. Arctic ice thickness has decreased 40 percent since the 1960s. The current pace of sea-level rise is three times the historical rate and appears to be accelerating.

New evidence of the effects climate change is having on the natural world is being researched by scientists all over the world at institutions such as the Earth Institute.

Droughts in the Sahel during the 1970s and 1980s were found to be caused by warmer sea surface temperatures, and the current drought in the Amazon is also suspected to be a result of rising ocean temperatures.
The cause of intensifying tropical storms in the Atlantic is currently under study, and some scientists believe rising sea surface temperatures to be the cause.
Poverty and food insecurity has been tied to climate variability, and climate change research provides crucial steps toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

[love]

Mei ... seems you master Food Security .... are you with INGO ?