Hurricane intensification more firmly linked to global warming

A recent article in PNAS by Santer et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 10.1073/pnas.0901736106, 2009) utilized 22 climate models to demonstrate that changes in water vapor (the most powerful natural greenhouse gas) distribution over the oceans is consistent with patterns caused specifically by anthropogenic forcing of climate. As water vapor is the fuel that powers hurricanes, they show a link between anthropogenic forcing and the recent increases in hurricane intensity. Of course, their real result is a demonstration that the Earth's recent warming patterns are human-caused. For a more detailed look at the intensification of hurricanes, check out http://www.toddalbert.com/comps/hurricanes/