• Hurricane Dean

    Emanuel Explains Warming-Hurricane Connections, Calls on Students to Join Field

    Speaking at Carleton on Wednesday evening, Kerry Emanuel presented a fascinating picture of hurricanes in their relation to global warming. Emanuel, a professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is known as a foremost expert in the small but increasingly important field concerning the impact of climate upon the number and intensity of hurricanes. In his remarks Wednesday night, Emanuel described some of the basic science behind hurricanes before delving into the research that has been done regarding trends in hurricane power (which he argued is a more important metric that hurricane number). Over the past century, ocean temperature has shown a strong correlation with hurricane power. Since increased ocean temperatures are one of the more direct impacts of global warming, this relationship could have real impacts upon coastal communities.

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