Thanks Clark for a very interesting post...especially considering the last couple days trying to get a handle on how SSTs versus deeper warm water affect increases in intensity. It seems that more than surface temps are required in order to get up to extreme intensities, as we only see the large mbar/hour drops once in the loop current, but once at that level, the reasoning why SSTs in certain situations may be able to maintain or enhance the current intensity, is information that hasn't really been discussed much on this forum so far this autumn.