Der Spiegel reports [here]:
Soil samples from the Grande Playa lagoon in Puerto Rico have given US scientists insight into the last 5,000 years of Atlantic hurricanes. The samples suggest that recent devastating storms may not necessarily be linked to global warming.
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The frequency of fierce storms that sweep into the Caribbean and onto the Puerto Rican island of Vieques varies considerably. There are stormy periods and more placid epochs -- and they alternate back and forth.
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The seeming up-tick in violent hurricanes, one has heard over and over again in recent years, can be blamed on global warming. According to this hypothesis, climate change increases ocean surface temperatures, which fuels the transformation of weak winds to mighty hurricanes. Researchers reported last summer that humans -- by virtue of carbon emissions leading to global warming -- share at least some of the responsibility for the record hurricane year of 2005.
But, the new study shows that this is not the case. According to the lead researcher:
"We happen to be living in an active hurricane phase…. Hurricanes are natural”.
