‘Katrina’ Was Just the Beginning of Hellish Hurricanes

Environmental News: Climate Change
Skywatch Special Edition
Sept 2006
Does “El Nino” mean anything to you? If not, you certainly remember the violence of Katrina hurricane, which swept New Orleans. Well, prepare for worse because Pacific and Atlantic storms are gaining strength.I’m sure global warming is no enigma to anyone these days, since signs that confirm it are to be found in any news posted on any TV channel. From last year’s hurricane seasons in the US, to the drought that parched Portugal in the same year and burned almost a third of the country’s forests, to this year’s fires in Greece and the hot air wave that raised temperatures in Europe to the highest level in five years, all are demonstrations of how Earth’s atmosphere suffers from pollution.The consequences of global warming and the green house effect are even worse than previously anticipated. According to a study by 19 climate researchers published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences polluting particles emitted from car tailpipes and power plants that work with fossil fuel are making the surface of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans warmer, acting like a catalyst for stronger and more devastating hurricanes that form there.The recent results came after a long and complicated scientific adventure at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where more than 22 climate models were put to test on the powerful computers installed there, each model being run several times with slightly different initial conditions. For example, climate models included the global effects of the “El Nino” phenomenon, the possible implications of a catastrophic volcano eruption (like the one that took place in August 25-27, 1883 in Krakatoa, when the volcano ejected more than 25 cubic kilometres of rock, ash, and pumice, and generated the loudest sound ever historically reported) and even a possible modification in the light emitted by the Sun. All tests indicated that a simple and natural climate change is unacceptable and that pollution must play the most important role for the heating of oceans’ surface."There is no way the observed changes could be related just to natural variables," said Tom Wigley, a National Center for Atmospheric Research researcher and a co-author of the journal, published by the National Academy of Sciences.