http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9YzbkbPjYwP_3-9wZhTNbMcZSAQD90OC2T80

Since Hurricane Katrina, scientists and the media have been reporting that climate change will make ocean waters warmer, which will in turn lead to a more severe hurricane season. An advocate of this idea, research meteorologist Tom Knutson, has recently reversed course and proclaimed he believes climate change has not been a factor in the worsening hurricane seasons.

What makes this study different is Knutson, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fluid dynamics lab in Princeton, N.J.

He has warned about the harmful effects of climate change and has even complained in the past about being censored by the Bush administration on past studies on the dangers of global warming.

He said his new study, based on a computer model, argues "against the notion that we've already seen a really dramatic increase in Atlantic hurricane activity resulting from greenhouse warming."

The study, published online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience, predicts that by the end of the century the number of hurricanes in the Atlantic will fall by 18 percent.

Several other prominent meteorologists have denounced Knutson's computer modeling. This only enhances the need for more coordination between scientists on climate change studies, especially between the various state and federal government agencies.

Associated Press; May 18, 2008

Submitted by B. Shapiro