With an especially violent tornado season underway in the United States, scientists are speculating that the upsurge in the number and power of the deadly storms could be related to a warming climate.
As the number of tornadoes heads towards what National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) record keepers say could be a new record, researchers are using satellite and on-the-ground data to determine if there are possible links between twisters and climate change. Jeffrey Gaffney, a professor at the University of Arkansas and expert in atmospheric chemistry says that ""Basic thought is there's more energy in the atmosphere, more water vapor evaporating and greater likelihood for stronger heating events that lead to stronger thunderstorms - super cells, that can lead to tornado production."
The thunderstorms not only create tornadoes, but can cause flooding, which has reached "100 year" levels in parts of the Midwest this spring.
Gaffney cautions, however, that the relationship with climate change remains only a theory, and notes that the currently available data are "not conclusive." However, the work being done serves to underline the fact that there could be all kinds of side effects to climate change that we haven't even considered yet when calculating costs.
via [Science Daily]
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