Although cyclones in the tropical Atlantic seem to be getting stronger in response to increasing ocean temperatures, no clear trends of this sort have been discerned in other tropical regions. A new analysis of cyclone intensity using satellite data suggests that there is a global trend, but that it is quite subtle. The main changes appear not in an upward trend of average cyclone intensity, but rather in the maximum speeds attained by cyclones during their lifetimes, the stronger the cyclone, the greater the change.
- James B. Elsner
- James P. Kossin
- Thomas H. Jagger
