Interview: Exploring the Links Between Warming and Hurricanes

One of the more contentious issues facing climate scientists is the question of whether rising ocean temperatures will cause more frequent and powerful hurricanes. Few experts have studied this question more in depth than Kerry Emanuel, a meteorologist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Emanuel discusses his current thinking on how hurricanes will be affected by climate change. The bottom line, he says, is that sea surface temperatures in the tropical waters where hurricanes and typhoons form have increased by nearly 1 degree F in the past century. He believes higher sea surface temperatures are likely to lead to more powerful and destructive hurricanes, while, paradoxically, a warming atmosphere will probably reduce the number of less potent storms. One thing is certain, says Emanuel: government subsidies and bailouts encouraging people to live in vulnerable, low-lying coastal zones are folly. “We have the situation of hard-working people in factory jobs and farmers subsidizing the landowners of Palm Beach,” he says. “That’s crazy.”

Read the interview