Ocean murkiness depends on the water's level of light-absorbing molecules such as chlorophyll, and as a result may be a factor in cyclone activity.
A darker ocean absorbs more sunlight, raising sea surface temperatures. Warmer surface waters destabilize the regional atmospheric circulation such that it favours cyclone formation. Using a coupled land–ocean–atmosphere climate model, Anand Gnanadesikan of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Princeton, New Jersey, and his colleagues simulated the genesis of subtropical cyclones in the northwestern Pacific. Making non-equatorial regions free from chlorophyll reduced the probability of storm formation over these regions by two-thirds, but increased it closer to the equator.
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Geoscience: Ocean colour drives storms. Nature 467, 503 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/467503e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/467503e
