Due to climate change our seas and oceans are getting warmer. And now scientists have confirmed that a warmer temperature in the waters will create stronger storms, such as Katrina in 2005 and the more recent hurricane Ike.

“If the seas continue to warm, we can expect to see stronger storms in the future,” James Elsner of Florida State University said.

Satellite data has shown that during the last 25 years “strong cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons have become more frequent in most of the tropics”. But according to the scientists, who published their findings in the journal Nature, the strength of weaker storms have not been “noticeably altered”.

“The researchers believe weaker storms are not affected so much because the factors that prevent them developing to their full potential, notably wind shear – abrupt changes in wind speed and direction that prevent the cyclone fuelling itself with ocean heat – are not related to ocean temperatures.”

But the scientists also calculated that only a 1C rise in sea surface temperature will increase the amount of strong storms by about one third. More controversial, some scientists warn that a warmer sea temperature will not just create stronger storms but also increase their numbers.

Read more at BBC News and Reuters.