More hurricanes in greener seas?
More hurricanes may form in greener waters, where sunlight tends to be absorbed at shallower depths, than in clear seas, according to new research that draws a link between ocean color and the formation and movement of tropical cyclones. It’s no secret that hurricanes depend on a recipe of moist air, warm water and converging winds. But in a paper due to be published this month in Geophysical Research Letters, researchers from MIT and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory say ocean color — which is typically influenced by the concentration of tiny marine organisms — may also be a factor. Ocean color varies around the globe. In the northern Pacific Ocean, the sea surface is dark green because it is packed with sediment and microscopic plants known as phytoplankton that absorb sunlight and keep the ocean’s surface warm. But the crystal-clear waters around the Bahamas...