AUGUSTA, Ga. A new report appearing in the online edition of the Journal of Climate suggest that improvements in weather sensors explains the apparent increase in the number of short-lived tropical storms since the late 1800s. The study also noted that climate change likely has no impact on the total number of storms each season in the Atlantic.

The study carefully analyzed Atlantic hurricane season data since 1878. They found that the number of tropical storms lasting two days or less increased from one per season in 1878 to five per season in 2008, but that this increase can be explained by the use of weather satellites during the past 50 years.

Chris Landsea, Science and Operations Officer at the National Hurricane Center and lead author of the study, says weather satellite technology provides much better observations which when combined with improved analysis techniques allows forecasters to detect the smaller and short-lived storms. These storms would have been essentially "invisible" prior to the use of satellites and certainly back in the 1800s.

For more information on the study, click here.