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Hurricane Sandy and climate change

What Does Hurricane Sandy Show us about Shoreline Change? http://www.enn.com/climate/article/45168 5 Nov 12  Contrarians argue that Hurricane Sandy isn’t proof of climate change. But local scientists say the recent storm offers more damning evidence that Rhode Island’s weather and landscape are undergoing a long-term transformation — one with a steep cost in dollars and human health.

Perhaps the most significant and indisputable fact is that the Atlantic Ocean is warmer, so much so that a late-October storm didn’t lose steam over what should have been a colder sea. Instead, Sandy gained speed and strength as it headed north and became an enormous force of destruction.
Sea surface temperature is one of the most important variables, said
John Merrill, professional of oceanography at the University of Rhode
Island’s School of Oceanography.
Overall, water temperatures across the eastern seaboard exceeded the
threshold that incites chaotic weather and powerful hurricanes. In
some locations, the warmer water might be cyclical, in others regions
the warming appears permanent. The temperature of Narragansett Bay,
for instance, has increased an average of 3.6 degrees since the 1960s,
according to studies.
The water temperature off New Jersey was 5 to 10 degrees above normal
this year. Determining an average increase for the entire Atlantic
Ocean is trickier, but the tropical regions where hurricanes form are
also in a warming trend.
In addition to intensifying weather, warmer water expands, causing sea
levels to rise. The Northeast is considered a hotspot, with sea levels
climbing four times faster than the global average. During the past
100 years, sea level has risen a foot in Narragansett Bay, according
to studies. URI researchers expect it to jump 3 to 5 feet by the end
of the century.

November 5, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA