今年のハリケーンシーズン、命名された暴風雨が過去最多２９個に

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】今年のハリケーンシーズンが始まって以降、勢力が強く名前が付けられた熱帯暴風雨が計29個となり、過去最多を更新した。米国立ハリケーンセンター（NHC）が10日、明らかにした。これら熱帯暴風雨により、米南東部やカリブ海、中米地域は甚大な被害を受けた。（写真は資料写真）
　熱帯暴風雨は大西洋上で風速１７．２メートルを上回ると名前が付けられる。今期発生した熱帯暴風雨のため避難を強いられた被災者はすでに数千人に上り、被害総額は合計２００億ドル（約２兆１０００億円）近くに上っている。
　ＮＨＣはツイッターで、今期発生し命名された熱帯暴風雨は「シータ」で２９個目となったと発表。２００５年の２８個の記録を上回ったと明らかにした。０５年は米ルイジアナ州ニューオーリンズに甚大な被害をもたらした、大型ハリケーン「カトリーナ」が発生した年。ＮＨＣはまた、今後５日以内に、名前が付く３０個目の熱帯暴風雨が発生する恐れがあると指摘した。ＮＨＣは、２０２０年の熱帯暴風雨の数があらかじめ用意されたラテン語の名前の数を上回ったため、ギリシャ文字による命名に切り替えることを強いられている。
　ハリケーンの勢力が増している一因について、専門家らは気候変動により海水の温度が上昇していることがあると指摘。２０２０年に命名された熱帯暴風雨の数が増えたことについては、１９８０年代以降の大西洋中央部の大気汚染緩和や、太平洋赤道域の海面水温が平年より低い状態となるラニーニャ現象との関連を示唆している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/11/11-15:36）

This year's hurricane season has seen a record 29 named tropical storms wreak havoc across the southeastern United States, the Caribbean and Central America, experts said on Tuesday.
The cyclonic storms, which are given named status in the Atlantic when their wind speeds exceed 62 kilometres per hour (39 miles per hour), have already displaced thousands and caused close to $20 billion of damage.
The US National Hurricane Center tweeted that tropical storm Theta had become the 29th event to be named this season, beating the previous record of 28 in 2005 -- the year Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.
The NHC was even forced to switch to the Greek alphabet after 2020's storms exhausted its list of Latin names.
Experts said climate change was helping to increase ocean temperatures, rendering the cyclones more powerful.
They said 2020's increase in named storms could also be connected to a regional reduction in air pollution over the central Atlantic since the 1980s, as well as the La Nina weather cycle.
As we continue to warm the planet at the tropical Atlantic, there is more energy to fuel more and stronger tropical storms and hurricanes, said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University.
When we happen to get a La Nina event, as with this year, it reinforces the impact that climate change is having and we get the sorts of devastating storm seasons we are witnessing.
Globally, as ocean temperatures increase in step with climate change, there has been a clear pattern of increasing tropical storm intensity in recent decades.
A study published in June found that the proportion of the strongest storms is increasing about 8 percent a decade, on average.
Hurricane Eta, which slammed into Central America this month, causing at least 130 deaths, is among the strongest November hurricanes ever recorded.
A growing number of tropical cyclones are also forming under a process known as rapid intensification.
This is where storms develop extremely quickly because of warmer waters, which in turn is made more likely as ocean temperatures rise globally.
Nine of 2020's tropical storms have experienced rapid intensification, which makes them harder to forecast and to prepare for landfall.