Tropical tempests take encouragement from environment
Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - 06:30
in Earth & Climate
Mix some warm ocean water with atmospheric instability and you might have a recipe for a cyclone. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Atlanta Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory found that the intensity of post-monsoon tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal has increased over the 30-year period from 1981-2010. The culprit? Trending increases in certain environmental conditions that brew up these storms: increased sea surface and upper ocean temperatures and atmospheric instability. These particular changes are prominent in the eastern Bay of Bengal where the strongest tropical cyclones have traditionally formed.