Study Suggests that Climate Change Strengthens Lanfalling Hurricanes

Feb, 2021 - By WMR

Climate change is promoting hurricanes that lead to take landfalls longer time to weaken according to a study published in the journal Nature.

The study showed that hurricanes that are developed over warmer oceans have large amount of moisture due to which they stay strong for a longer time after hitting the land. This means that with the increasing global warming, hurricanes are more likely to become stronger and reach farther communities leading to vast destruction.

Senior author, Professor Pinaki Chakraborty, said that these implications are extremely vital to be considered while making policies for the world to fight global warming. Along with the coastal areas, the inland communities also need to prepare for the possible destruction caused due to hurricanes. Although many studies before have shown how climate change can contribute to intensify hurricanes, but this is the first study to find a link between warming climate and a subset of hurricane that have made landfall.

With the help of computer stimulations of different hurricanes and different temperatures of the sea, the link between slower weakening of past landfalls and warmer sea temperature was tested.

The first author of the study, Lin Li said that hurricanes are heat engines similar to the ones in a car. As, with the help of fuel the heat energy is converted into mechanical energy in a car, similarly, moisture is the fuel to the destructive power of hurricanes that intensifies their effect. The team found that even though simulated hurricane made the landfall at the identical intensity, the warmer water ones took longer time to weaken.

Prof. Chakraborty concluded that if global warming is not curbed, landfalling hurricanes will continue to take longer time in weakening and the destruction caused due to them would not be confined only to coastal areas.