How does rising atmospheric CO2 affect marine organisms?

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Storm Trends in the Southern Beaufort Sea
Reference
Hudak, D.R. and Young, J.M.C.  2002.  Storm climatology of the southern Beaufort Sea.  Atmosphere-Ocean 40: 145-158.

What was done
The authors utilized an objective method of identifying fall (June-November) storms in the southern Beaufort Sea based on criteria of surface wind speed for the period 1970-1995.

What was learned
As can be seen from the accompanying figure, there is considerable year-to-year variability in the number of storms, but no discernible trend.  The authors also observed a small increase in the number of storms during El Niņo vs. La Niņa years, but report that "due to the relatively small number of cases, no statistical significance can be associated with this difference."

What it means
In a region of the globe where climate models predict the effects of CO2-induced global warming to be most evident, the past quarter-century has seen no change in the number of fall (June-November) storms.


Reviewed 11 September 2002