On social media several people were tweeting me about Cyclone Kelvin. They were asking if this was a classic example of the "brown ocean effect." Whether you like the term or not, Cyclone Kelvin formed an eye after it made landfall this week in northwest Australia, and there is speculation that it was a "brown ocean effect" storm. The 2013 Andersen and Shepherd study examined over 220 global storms over a 30-year period and found that Australia is the most common place for the "brown ocean effect." We are funded by NASA's Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction Program to improve understanding of "brown ocean effect" cases.

Source: Forbes February 19, 2018 21:11 UTC