Scientists: Climate Change May Offer Hurricane Help
Could warmer air help push hurricanes into the Atlantic Ocean?
Climate change might alter atmospheric conditions so that future hurricanes may be pushed away from the East Coast, according to a study published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
The warming caused by greenhouse gases—thought to be the result of human activities such as burning fossil fuels—could redirect atmospheric winds that steer hurricanes.
By the next century, the study's authors report, atmospheric winds over the Atlantic could blow more directly from west to east during hurricane season, pushing storms away from the United States.
The study was conducted by meteorologists Elizabeth Barnes at Colorado State University; Lorenzo M. Polvani of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York; and Adam H. Sobelband at Columbia University.
The authors used computer simulations to
