Letter abstract
Nature Geoscience 1, 359 - 364 (2008)
Published online: 18 May 2008 | doi:10.1038/ngeo202
There is an Erratum (June 2008) associated with this Letter.
Subject Categories: Atmospheric science | Climate science
Simulated reduction in Atlantic hurricane frequency under twenty-first-century warming conditions
Thomas R. Knutson, Joseph J. Sirutis, Stephen T. Garner, Gabriel A. Vecchi & Isaac M. Held
Increasing sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and measures of Atlantic hurricane activity have been reported to be strongly correlated since at least 1950 (refs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), raising concerns that future greenhouse-gas-induced warming6 could lead to pronounced increases in hurricane activity. Models that explicitly simulate hurricanes are needed to study the influence of warming ocean temperatures on Atlantic hurricane activity, complementing empirical approaches. Our regional climate model of the Atlantic basin reproduces the observed rise in hurricane counts between 1980 and 2006, along with much of the interannual variability, when forced with observed sea surface temperatures and atmospheric conditions7. Here we assess, in our model system7, the changes in large-scale climate that are projected to occur by the end of the twenty-first century by an ensemble of global climate models8, and find that Atlantic hurricane and tropical storm frequencies are reduced. At the same time, near-storm rainfall rates increase substantially. Our results do not support the notion of large increasing trends in either tropical storm or hurricane frequency driven by increases in atmospheric greenhouse-gas concentrations.
- NOAA/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey 08542, USA
Correspondence to: Thomas R. Knutson e-mail: Tom.Knutson@noaa.gov
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