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In October of 2012, the category two Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast coast of the United States, devastating many communities. In addition to this, many scientists are attributing this deadly storm with global warming and global climate change. For a while now, climatologists have seen a correlation between super storms and global climate change. However, the question remains: was Hurricane Sandy caused from climate change?
According to the New York Times, research meteorologist Thomas R. Knutson who works in Princeton, NJ at the government’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab, states that “We’re changing the environment- it’s very clear. We’re changing the global temperature, we’re changing atmospheric moisture, we’re changing a lot of things. Humans are running this experiment, and we’re not quite sure how it’s going to turn out.” This remark is very unsettling for many scientists as well as global citizens. The world as we know it is changing because of our negligence. The New York Times also said that “the resulting storm surge along the Atlantic coast was almost certainly intensified by decades of sea-level rise linked to human emissions of greenhouse gases. And they emphasized that Hurricane Sandy, whatever its causes, should be seen as a foretaste of trouble to come as the seas rise faster, the risks of climate change accumulate and the political system fails to respond.” What can be taken from this quote is that some climatologists believe that the storm itself was not caused by global warming, but much of the damage and effects of the storm were.
Scientists meeting at the annual Geological Society of America convention believe that Hurricane Sandy was definitely exacerbated by global climate change. These scientists agree that the rising sea levels increased about 1ft of the storm surge in the NY/NJ area. Hurricanes, like most storms, gain their power from moisture in the atmosphere. Hurricanes are going to occur with or without global warming, but these scientists agree that these storms will become more intense as the atmosphere warms up and as the sea levels rise.
Overall, Hurricane Sandy (the storm), is believed to have not been caused by global climate change, but as stated earlier, the effects of the storm, the intensity, and the much of the damage (i.e. storm surge flooding) was most likely caused by global warming and global climate change. For now, we need to find ways to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our impact on the environment or be faced with similar or even worse storms in the future.
Sources:
http://www.livescience.com/24566-hurricane-sandy-climate-change.html