Storms linked 'to warm sea'

LONDON - The record number of hurricanes and tropical storms in the North Atlantic over the past decade can be linked directly to rising temperatures caused by global warming, a study has found.

There are now about twice as many Atlantic hurricanes forming each year compared with a century ago and the rise has generated an intense debate over whether this is due to variability or global warming.

A study by scientists at the United States National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado has found that natural variability cannot explain the increase. Instead, they have attributed the rise to warmer sea-surface temperatures caused by greenhouse gases. In an analysis of tropical cyclones over the past hundred years they found no convincing evidence that natural cycles could account for the dramatic increase seen in recent decades.

- INDEPENDENT