Comment on “Tropical forests are a net carbon source based on aboveground measurements of gain and loss”. The tropical forest carbon cycle and climate change. These interannual fluctuations, controlled predominantly by semiarid biomes, were shown to be closely related to independent global atmospheric CO 2 growth-rate anomalies (Pearson’s r = 0.86), highlighting the pivotal role of tropical AGC in the global carbon budget. Large interannual and spatial fluctuations of tropical AGC were quantified during the wet 2011 La Niña year and throughout the extreme dry and warm 2015–2016 El Niño episode. Here, we used low-frequency L-band passive microwave observations to compute a direct and spatially explicit quantification of annual aboveground carbon (AGC) fluxes and show that the tropical net AGC budget was approximately in balance during 2010 to 2017, the net budget being composed of gross losses of −2.86 PgC yr −1 offset by gross gains of −2.97 PgC yr −1 between continents. However, current observational tools do not allow accurate and large-scale monitoring of the spatial distribution and dynamics of carbon stocks 1. A wetter African Sahel means that the waves which create up to 90% of the Atlantic's intense hurricanes are stronger," explains Webb.Changes in terrestrial tropical carbon stocks have an important role in the global carbon budget. "The African Sahel region (between the Congo rainforest to the south and Sahara Desert to the north) has been really wet this summer. A map showing the change in sea temperature since 1901.īeyond the hot water, Webb, who specializes in tropical weather, says that rainfall in Africa - where most of the seedlings for tropical systems form before their track across the Atlantic Basin - is way above normal. Human warming has increased Tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1901. What is clear is that short-term weather patterns combined with the background warming from human-caused climate change is boosting ocean temperatures. Michael Mann of Penn State University, now says that new studies provide little support for this cyclical effect. But the scientist who coined the term decades ago, Dr. Some of the hotter-than-normal water may be driven by the warm phase of a natural cycle called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), a long-accepted concept of warming and cooling. A map showing higher than average Atlantic sea surface temperatures.
In the image below, created by UNC-Charlotte graduate student Eric Webb, the darkest red-shaded areas are record warm. The most obvious contributing factor for such an active season is water temperatures being near historic levels in the Tropical Atlantic, which can act like high-octane fuel to power hurricanes. SaSubDGwjc- Philip Klotzbach August 4, 2020 This is the earliest on record that 5 Atlantic named storms have made continental US landfall. Bertha, Cristobal, Fay & Hanna made landfall too. #Isaias is 5th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic #hurricane season to make landfall in the continental US. Category 3, 4 and 5 systems cause 85% of all hurricane damage. This is significant because damage increases exponentially with wind speed. coast will be struck by a major hurricane - Category 3 or greater - during the 2020 season. In addition, CSU is forecasting a 75% chance that the U.S. An overview of Colorado State University's 2020 hurricane season forecast as of August 5, 2020. This has only happened one time on record - in 2005 when the Atlantic experienced a total of 28 tropical and subtropical storms. As a result, if 24 tropical storms are indeed named, the National Hurricane Center will have to employ the Greek alphabet for overflow. Only 21 storm names are allotted each year because the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are not used. If the forecast proves accurate, 2020 would be the second most active Atlantic hurricane season, behind only the record-shattering 2005 season which brought Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. Labeling the 2020 hurricane season "extremely active," the team is now predicting 24 named storms, including 12 total hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes - each figure about double that of a normal season.