J. P. Kossin, K. R. Knapp, D. J. Vimont, R. J. Murnane, B. A. Harper

Geophysical Research Letters

Published date February 28, 2007

A globally consistent reanalysis of hurricane variability and trends

  • Finds that recently documented trends in the existing records of hurricane intensity and their relationship to increasing sea surface temperatures suggest that hurricane intensity may be increasing due to global warming
  • States, however, that it is presently being argued that the existing global hurricane records are too inconsistent to accurately measure trends
  • The authors construct, as a first step in addressing this debate, a more homogeneous global record of hurricane intensity and found that previously documented trends in some ocean basins are well supported, but in others the existing records contain trends that may be inflated or spurious