(AerisWeather)In the past two hurricane seasons, record-breaking floods have engulfed our coastal zones in the Carolinas and Texas as storms have drawn more water and grown larger from rapidly warming oceans. Given high ocean heat content, the hurricane can reintensify during eyewall replacement. This is how storms grow bigger, more intense and longer-lived, fueled by a steady supply of ocean heat. Accurate prediction of hurricane eyewall replacement cycles and intensification may require near-real-time, high-resolution data from the upper oceans and Gulf of Mexico. With rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, warming oceans fueling increasingly potent hurricanes makes real-time, deep-ocean data a necessity, not a luxury.

Source: Washington Post April 16, 2019 16:08 UTC