14 DAY TRIAL // Warmer oceans are bad news for people living close to the tropics, meteorologists warn. The global warming effect, which prompts worldwide temperatures to grow, has now reached a point where it directly affects the temperatures of the oceans. Warmer water makes for more evaporation, which translates into more rainfall in the areas above and around the warm “spots.” Thus, more and more storm clouds will be formed, which will increase the risk of loss of human lives, of floods and unusual weather patterns.
By carefully analyzing satellite data, available for a time span of 5 years, researchers determined that the number of thunderstorm clouds – known as “thunderheads” – is constantly increasing, and that the quantities of water they carry are also more and more significant. This should prompt concerns in the targeted areas, as their effects cannot be avoided by simply building dams and other such rudimentary protective measures.
The only long-term solution to avoid devastating floods and water accumulations in these regions will be to decrease the overall temperature of the oceans, or at least in the areas where it's the warmest. But such an undertaking would require worldwide efforts, which the leaders of all nations, gathered at the Poznan conference in Poland, between December 1-12, proved they could not commit to.
George Aumann, who is a climate scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California, the expert who analyzed the weather data from NASA's satellites, says that his numbers show at least 6,000 extra thunderhead clouds forming over the Earth's skies each day, a situation that shouldn't be taken lightly.
His findings only come to strengthen those made by other scientists, who hypothesized that global warming was the main phenomenon responsible for an increase in flooding and abnormal weather patterns throughout the globe. World leaders have until December 2009 to put aside their differences and work together. The Copenhagen conference will decide the aftermath of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.