Study: Global Warming Will Reduce Hurricanes That Devastate U.S. Shores

January 23, 2008 10:47 a.m. EST

Washington, DC (AHN) - Scientists in the U.S. believe that global ocean warming will result in reduced Atlantic hurricanes in the U.S.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists analyzed the nature of Atlantic storms from 1854 to 2006 and found that higher temperatures increase the vertical wind shear of a system and decreased the frequency of storms.

NOAA News quotes Chunzai Wang, an oceanographer as saying, "We looked at U.S. land falling hurricanes because it is the most reliable Atlantic hurricane measurement over the long term. Using data extending back to the middle nineteenth century, we found a gentle decrease in the trend of U.S. land falling hurricanes when the global ocean is warmed up. This trend coincides with an increase in vertical wind shear over the tropical North Atlantic and the gulf of Mexico, which could result in fewer U.S. land falling hurricanes."

The study appeared in Geophysical Research Letters and contradicts the prediction of U.S. scientists with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which said that rising temperatures will increase the frequency of the storms reports Bloomberg News.

Wang also talks about hurricane strength in the study. He says, "The vertical wind shear is the only factor affecting Atlantic hurricane activity, although it is an important one," reports NOAA News.

The other factors are sea level pressure, sea surface temperature and so on.

The last major storm was Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.