MSNBC Poll: Is global warming contributing to the increased hurricanes

[oxbow]

http://question.msnbc.com

They're finally talking about it, even if they put the government's spin on it in the news report. I was wondering when they would finally deal with this. Maybe when the forecasters run out of names in the English language and start using the Greek Alphabet to name hurricanes, they'll take it more seriously?

[tives12]

1. Thank you

It is about time.

[Melodybe]

18. As the Grand daughter of Dr. Wallace S. Broecker, 1 of the fathers of the

Global Warming debate, YES!!!!

Grandpa has been trying to warn these assholes for over 20 years.


YES, YES, YES, Damn.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. 70/30, yes. n/t

[swag]

3. Thank goodness. An on-line poll is the best way to settle this question.

[nonconformist]

4. Done nt

[Roachman]

5. Good posting

It is 30% religious fanatic morons and those inflected with I-only-know-what-I-see-on-TV-news-itus after the first 5500 votes.

[Carolab]

6. Methinks this clown should read this.

http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/~tk/glob_warm_hurr.html

Note that it references the NOAA--Stanley's agency

{snip}

An implication of these studies is that if the frequency of tropical cyclones remains the same over the coming century, a greenhouse-gas induced warming may lead to a gradually increasing risk in the occurrence of highly destructive category-5 storms.

{snip}

[oxbow]

20. What really pised me off is that they said in the news piece

that scientist are still split over whether global warming is causing this extreme weather, and then they had some government paid scientist come out and spout the GOP party line that we're just going though a rough patch of hurricanes, and GW cannot be blamed for it.

Anybody reading the literature would know that almost all scientists agree that global warming is serious and we're feeling its effects already.

[triguy46]

7. What do we win if we get this right?

Higher water levels world wide, diminished ice sheet/glaciers in polar regions, dryer, hotter agricultural regions, diminished capacity to grow water dependent crops, decreased water tables and dried up acquifers.

OR

Door number 2.

[maine_raptor]

8. Is tomorrows poll; "Do Bears Shit in the Woods?"

[LSK]

24. done - 69% yes

[maine_raptor]

25. LOL

I want to meet the 31% who said "No", got some cedar swampland to sell'em.

[AFSCME girl]

9. Done...

thanks for posting this oxbow!

AFSCME girl

[zappaman]

10. But...but...

Rush says there ain't such a thang as "global warning".

He couldn't be wrong, could he?

[oxbow]

13. Even G. Gordon Libby has given up on THAT talking point

NOW HE'S SAYING THAT GW ISN't SUCH AS BAD A THING AS SCIENTISTS SAY, EVEN IF IT IS REAL. If these people don't believe in science, then I wish they'd stop using it. No more doctors or DNA tests or internet for you Freepers!

[OhioChick]

11. Done n/t

[ET Awful]

12. How the hell can you poll based on facts? I mean that's like saying

Poll:

Is water wet?

[Xithras]

14. Mathematically, it doesn't work out.

I was listening to a climatologist and an NOAA researcher discuss this yesterday, and they laid it out pretty clearly...the math just doesn't add up.

First off, the total number of named storms actually hasn't changed one bit. We're entirely within averages for the number of storms forming and striking land. What HAS changed is the intensity of those storms, and it is easily documentable that they have become more powerful over the past 20 years.

Now here's the kicker. The actual average sea surface temperature increase in the Gulf of Mexico has only increased by .5 degrees in that time period. Since hurricanes are driven by ocean evaporation, it's relatively simple math to estimate how much that rise will increase evaporation, and then to factor that increase into a storms strength. The conclusion? Yes, a warming gulf IS making these storms more powerful, but that increase is negligible when compared with the overall power of the storm. We're talking less than a 5% increase in evaporation, and perhaps as little as a 2-3% increase in storm strength.

They made it pretty clear that despite all of our research, we still don't understand exactly why some storms become hurricanes while others never make it past tropical depressions, and why some become Cat5's while others barely qualify as Cat 1's. In their words, there are factors at work here that we just don't understand yet, and it appears that one of those may be responsible for the cyclical increase in hurricane strength.

[maine_raptor]

15. Yup, and mathematically

Bumble Bees cannot fly, but they do.

[oxbow]

17. they said in the story that 35% of all hurricanes are category 4's now

while only 20% were in the 70's. The mechanics of such a complex system as GW are hard to pin down, but I hope we can all agree that releasing record amounts of hydrocarbons and other chemicals into the air will affect the climate somehow. The weather is getting crazier for a reason and even if global warming is not the specific mechanism fueling this, we would be fools to continue exasperating the problem with more and more industrial waste.

[Boomer]

23. The issue is far from settled

Several earlier DU discussions have covered the valid scientific arguments for the influence of global warming on hurricane intensity.

Here's one posted by hatrack:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=31032

Hurricane Severity Increasing Thanks To Water Temps - Science

A new study concludes that rising sea temperatures have been accompanied by a significant global increase in the most destructive hurricanes, adding fuel to an international debate over whether global warming contributed to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. The study, published today in the journal Science, is the second in six weeks to draw this conclusion, but other climatologists dispute the findings and argue that a recent spate of severe storms reflects nothing more than normal weather variability.

<snip>

[tk2kewl]

16. Science truly doesn't matter.

That question is tantamount to "do you believe in science?"

[Jackpine Radical]

19. Hey, let's settle all scientific questions with polls.

Wow, that'll translat into huge savings of R&D $$.

Here are some suggested questions for upcoming polls:

1) Is Sertraline safe & effective for ADHD in children?

2) Do magnetic monopoles exist?

3) Do we need to worry about avian flu?

[tk2kewl]

21. Yup...

What a pathetic collection of people this country has become. :eyes:

[me b zola]

22. done

Do you believe global warming is contributing to the increased hurricane activity? * 7076 responses


Yes........69%

No.........31%

[Rainscents]

26. Kick!

[kansasblue]

27. 7675 responses 69% yes

[Zynx]

28. Warmer water correlates with stronger hurricanes.

A very convincing case can be made.