{"id":2208,"date":"2026-06-24T16:01:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T16:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2208"},"modified":"2026-06-24T16:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T16:01:37","slug":"whats-warming-and-cooling-the-atlantic-study-points-to-humans-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=2208","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s warming (and cooling) the Atlantic? Study points to humans"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

The temperature of the Atlantic Ocean should matter to anyone living within striking distance of a hurricane.<\/p>\n

Read more Man hospitalized after stabbing in Fort Lauderdale, police say<\/a><\/p>\n

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The warmer the sea surface temperatures get, the friendlier the waters become for storms to strengthen. It\u2019s not the only factor that matters for individual storms to form \u2014 wind shear and dry air also play a role \u2014 but it\u2019s pretty dang important.<\/p>\n

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And a new study from Florida State University researchers suggests that the biggest influence on those sea surface temperatures comes from people, not nature. The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, found that unlike the Pacific Ocean, where temperature swings are more likely related to natural processes, the fingerprints on the Atlantic\u2019s thermostat are distinctly human.<\/p>\n

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While scientists are confident that human-caused climate change is having an impact around the world, including in the warming Atlantic Ocean, there are also natural processes that play a role. Like the globe-spanning oceanic currents that ferry warm tropical water north to the Arctic, or global phenomena like El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a that are correlated with fewer and more Atlantic hurricanes, respectively.<\/p>\n

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Lead author Michael Diamond, assistant professor of meteorology at Florida State University, said his team’s research suggests that humans are the driving force behind the warming \u2014 and cooling \u2014 of the Atlantic. The warming comes from greenhouse gas pollution, which is spewed into the atmosphere whenever fossil fuels are burned.<\/p>\n

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Diamond said the study could be seen as good news. It suggests that humans have more of an impact than we initially realize, and therefore any changes we make could pay dividends.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t expect to go into a hurricane drought just by chance,\u201d he said. \u201cThe meteorological factors that drive the conditions for hurricanes and marine heat waves, we should expect them to go along with human emissions and not expect to get lucky and have them go away \u2014 or get unlucky and have them supercharged.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But there\u2019s cooling happening, too. All those cars and trucks and coal-burning power plants also emit particles that fill the atmosphere. Like the infamous Saharan Dust, chunks of stuff floating in the atmosphere can shade the Atlantic Ocean or form clouds, making it less likely that hurricanes will form or strengthen.<\/p>\n

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Then, a few decades ago, the world cleaned up its act and stopped letting so many of those particles into the atmosphere. It\u2019s why cars have catalytic converters, to clean up some of those nasty bits that spew from tailpipes when we burn gasoline or diesel fuel.<\/p>\n

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A side effect of cleaning up the air meant, surprisingly, more hurricanes.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE:<\/b> North America has cut air pollution, seen more storms. NOAA study suggests a connection<\/p>\n

Read more Expect traffic madness for the big Scotland-Brazil World Cup match. Here\u2019s help<\/a><\/p>\n

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When the researchers analyzed decades of global temperatures and ran dozens of simulations using high-tech global weather models, they found that the shifts from cooler to warmer Atlantic were not driven by natural processes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat might look like a swing, but it\u2019s actually just two different human-caused changes lying on top of each other,\u201d Diamond said.<\/p>\n

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That matters for hurricanes, because warm water acts as fuel for a hurricane\u2019s engine. But sea surface temperatures are only part of the story.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cSea surface temperatures are basically skin deep,\u201d said Nick Shay, a professor of oceanography University of Miami\u2019s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. Shay studies ocean heat content, how hot the water gets when you plunge hundreds of meters down below the surface. \u201cThe idea here is the deeper the warm water goes, the more likely a storm is to form or intensify.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Deeper pockets of warm water serve as much more intense fuel reserves for storms. It\u2019s why we sometimes see storms in the Gulf suddenly intensify when they cross over one.<\/p>\n

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And while it\u2019s clear that the ocean is absorbing more heat as human-caused climate change rages on, parsing what can be blamed on humans or natural variability in ocean heat content is a little more difficult, he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Regardless, there are clear trends to be found. Parts of the Atlantic are getting hotter, which is linked with stronger storms.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a trend in the Gulf ocean heat content in the last couple years. The Gulf is definitely warming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read more Powerful Miami men are on roster of secret society run by Palantir\u2019s Peter Thiel<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Florida State University study finds human emissions \u2014 greenhouse gases and aerosols \u2014 are the main drivers of Atlantic warming and cooling that affect hurricanes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hurricane"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s warming (and cooling) the Atlantic? 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