MIAMI (CMC):

A new study says rising ocean temperatures linked to global warming could decrease the number of hurricanes making landfall in the Caribbean.

The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union, challenges recent research that suggests global warming could be contributing to an increase in the frequency and the intensity of Atlantic hurricanes.

It reaffirmed earlier views that warmer sea waters might result in atmospheric instabilities that could prevent tropical storms from forming.

The new study suggests that warmer seas, caused by greenhouse gases blamed for a rise in global temperatures, are linked to an increase in vertical wind shear, a difference in wind speeds at differen that can tear apart nascent cyclones.