Hurricane Info

• Jan 30, 2008 2:54 pm US/Eastern
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  Study: Cooler Oceans Mean Fewer Hurricanes

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Study: Cooler Oceans Mean Fewer Hurricanes

MIAMI (CBS4) ― Researchers, forecasters and just about everyone who's been through a hurricane in South Florida knows, the warmer the water in the Atlantic Ocean, the more energy a storm has to start up or get stronger.

Now a new study has found that when the Atlantic waters warmed by as little as one degree in the dead of summer, overall hurricane activity jumped by half. Mark Saunders, a professor of climate prediction at the University College London, says his study calculates storm frequency and strength in relation to warmer sea water.

Saunders said what he found, according to the data, was a distinct numerical connection between the ups and downs of water temperature and the intensity of a particular hurricane season. He added that this connection helps why hurricanes have been so much worse in the past dozen years and why 2007, which had slightly cooler water temperatures, had a less intense Atlantic hurricane season.

Saunder's study will be published Thursday in the journal Nature.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)