World

NASA Eyes Water Temperature For Hurricanes

by ScienceDave | August 17, 2007 at 02:46 pm

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NASA issued a press release yesterday: tropical storms are a brewin', but perhaps not as nasty as those in previous years. Warm surface water fuel hurricanes, such that the warmer the waters, the more energy is available to kickstart a hurricane and keep its buzz going all night.

For an animation of surface seawater tempertures from Jan 1 to the present, see this animation - it is updated every 24 hours.

Sea surface temperatures are one of the key ingredients for tropical cyclone formation and they were warming up in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and eastern Atlantic Ocean by the middle of August. As a result, they helped spawn Hurricane Dean in the central Atlantic, and Tropical Storm Erin in the Gulf of Mexico, both during the week of August 13...

...NASA's Bill Patzert, oceanographer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. said, "The many Atlantic and Gulf citizens still reeling from the shock of the 2004 and 2005 Atlantic hurricane seasons, received some good news … the Atlantic sea surface temperatures that fuel hurricanes are somewhat cooler than the past few years. Based on this, some forecasters have reduced their forecasts. But the news is mixed."

When asked what factors forecasters are watching, Patzert said "The jet stream has remained stubbornly north, the possibility of a late-developing La Nina is lurking and Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean sea surface temperatures are ripe for late-season hurricane development."