SAN DIEGO – (INT) - A new analysis of what controls the peak intensity of typhoons suggests that under climate change this century, mega-storms could get even stronger and more frequent.

Storms like Haiyan, which slammed into the Philippines in 2013, could get repeated encores.

The NASA, National Science Foundation, and NOAA-funded study, led by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, projects the intensity of typhoons in the western Pacific Ocean to increase as much as 14 percent – nearly equivalent to an increase of one category – by century’s end even under a moderate future scenario of greenhouse gas emissions.

Unusual upper ocean warming rates over the low-latitude northwestern Pacific have already intensified storms in the region since the warmer water provides more fuel for storm intensity.

Haiyan was one of the strongest ocean storms ever recorded, killing at least 6,300 people. It set records for the strongest storm ever at landfall and for the highest sustained wind speed over one minute ever, hitting 194 miles per hour.

The study appears in the journal ‘Science Advances’.

Story Date: June 1, 2015