1. Jacki Kinney Climatology December 6, 2005
An Examination of the Effects of Sea-Surface Temperatures on North Atlantic Hurricanes
I am looking at SST variability because the ocean is the primary energy source for hurricanes
Local SST greater than 26.5 is generally considered to be a necessary condition for tropical cyclone development
Jacki Kinney
Climatology
December 6, 2005

2. Main Development Region
The main development region is primarily between 10 and 20 N

3. Number of Major Atlantic Hurricanes
This figure is the total number of category 3,4,or 5 Atlantic hurricanes that occurred between the years of 1944 to 2000.
The dashed line is the 5-year running mean
Goldenberg, et al, 2001

4. SST Variation Goldenberg, et al, 2001
This figure is the variation of SST averaged of the MDR for
The dashed line is the 5 year running mean.
Goldenberg, et al, 2001

5. Webster, et al., 2005

6. Intense Hurricanes
Webster, et al., 2005

7. Power Dissipation Index
Emanuel, 2005

8. Conclusions
There does seem to be a correlation, in the North Atlantic, between SST and hurricane activity.
It is too early to tell if the variations seen are due to natural variations or human-induced global warming