Estudo relaciona aquecimento de oceanos tropicais aos gases de efeito estufa (em inglês)
2006-09-12
Rising ocean temperatures linked by some studies to tropical storms are
very likely a result of global warming caused by greenhouse gas
emissions, according to new research. The lead author of the new study,
Benjamin D. Santer of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory of the
Energy Department, said the findings suggested that further warming
would probably make hurricanes stronger in coming decades.
But while environmentalists and some researchers have asserted that
storms like Hurricane Katrina were already measurably stronger because
of warming caused by humans, Dr. Santer said his study did not address
that issue. The study was published online yesterday by The Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers compared a century of observed temperature changes with
those produced in more than 80 computer simulations of how oceans
respond to natural and human influences on the climate. The simulations
were generated on 22 different computer models at 15 different research
centers.
The simulations correctly mimicked the cooling caused by plumes from
volcanic eruptions, which temporarily block the sun. At the same time,
the authors said, the only warming influence that could explain the
changes in the oceans was the buildup of heat-trapping smokestack and
tailpipe gases in the air.
Earlier studies concluded that greenhouse gases from human activities
were warming the oceans, but this analysis was the first to examine
thoroughly trends in particular tropical regions of the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans that serve as nurseries for the destructive storms.
Several climate experts said that while debate persisted about the role
of warming in pumping up hurricanes, there was little doubt about the
long-term trend should warming continue as projected.
“Even under modest scenarios for emissions, we’re talking about sea
surface temperature changes in these regions of a couple of degrees,”
Dr. Santer said. “That’s much larger than anything we’ve already
experienced, and that is worrying.”
(Por Andrew C. Revkin, The N. Y. Times
,
12/09/2006)