As we recover from Katrina and prepare for Rita, a lot of ink is naturally being spilled about the scientific aspects of hurricanes. A couple of common questions are “Can we do anything about hurricanes?” and “Are these storms linked to global warming and/or greenhouse gases and the Kyoto accord?”
On the first point, Joseph Verrengia of the AP has a good article explaining why the prevention or modification of hurricanes is not going to happen. There is just too much energy involved.
See http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50B11FA3D550C738FDDA10894DD404482
The claims that these storms are directly linked to President Bush’s rejection of the Kyoto accord are absurd, regardless of what one thinks of the merits of the accord (or of the President, for that matter.) Had Bush signed the accord immediately, the effect so far would have been too small to measure. His signature would have been meaningless in any event, since the Senate must ratify the agreement, and the Senate rejected it unanimously in 1999 – a fact the President’s current critics always forget to mention. I am no defender of this Administration’s policies on science or the environment, but the President gets a “not guilty” on Hurricane Katrina.
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