Ocean storms in East and Southeast Asia will become more active and deadly over the next few years due to ocean warming, according to a recent study published in the journal of Nature Geoscience.
In the past, countries and cities in Asia have been struck by these harsh ocean storms known as typhoons. The latter have claimed the lives of thousands and has created climate chaos in the region. Taiwan, Korea, China, and Japon, have experienced the consequences of the deadly storms. Researchers have now informed that typhoons are not going anywhere, in fact, they are becoming stronger and more dangerous as the years pass because of warming ocean waters in the coasts.
Deadly ocean storms
Previous to this research, the same team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had performed an investigation on the increment of typhoon intensity during the 1970s and suggested the climate phenomenon would continue to occur.
In 2014, a strong typhoon struck southern China and killed over 100 people in the country and the Phillippines. The most recent typhoon called Lionrock took place last week in Japan and killed over nine people.
“If you have warming coastal water, it means that typhoons can get a little extra jolt just before they make landfall and that’s obviously not good news,” said Kerry Emanuel, a meteorology professor to The Verge, who wasn’t involved in the study.
These intense storms tend to occur in tropical environments and can create high winds that go almost 74 miles per hour, making everything around citizens a life-threatening object.
According to researchers, warm water acts as energy for these storms and the levels of warmness have been increasing in the past years. Lead author Wei Mei, informs that the Asian coast has warmed almost 1.4 degrees since the 70s, but it is unknown if man-made warming causes this.
The research was based on previous data from typhoons obtained during the 1970s, belonging to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center and the Japan Meteorological Agency. The study authors found that the storms had intensified almost 14 percent since the latest data was taken, and type 4 and five typhoons have augmented in the last two decades.
However, the research hasn’t been able to identify if human-made warming has caused the storms to increase and to become stronger, although scientists have agreed with researchers about the possibilities of more harsh and continuous storms in the area.
It is still uncertain if the storms are happening because of natural and warming situations or if men have something to do with the catastrophic incidents.
Source: Nature