ABSTRACT
One of the purported consequences of the increased release of carbon dioxide into the air due to the industrial revolution is an increase in the number and/or intensity of hurricanes in the North Atlantic. To examine the extent to which this is the case, one looks to data on North Atlantic hurricanes in the last 150 years, and this does indeed show an increase. However, the criteria for recording a hurricane in the standard database are strict, and it is obvious that our ability to detect hurricanes has increased enormously. Where once we relied on reports of ship captains and landfall, we now have satellites that plausibly detect every tropical disturbance. Accordingly, it is necessary to model the extent to which detection capabilities have improved in order to assess whether hurricanes have increased.
