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Global Warming Strengthening Tropical Storms

New research suggests that global warming is making hurricanes more ferocious. Scientists call the findings both surprising and "alarming" because they suggest global warming is influencing storms now - rather than in the distant future.

The research doesn`t suggest global warming is generating more hurricanes and typhoons. It shows for the first time that major storms spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans since the 1970s have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent. These trends are closely linked to increases in the average temperatures of the ocean surface, as well as corresponding to increases in global average atmospheric temperatures during the same period.

"When I look at these results at face value, they are rather alarming, said research meteorologist Tom Knutson. "These are very big changes."