Does Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) truly measure how active a season is? I notice ACE values are all the same regardless how small or large a tropical cyclone is. A large hurricane like Katrina and Ike have the same ACE value than a small hurricane like Andrew and Charley get. On the flip side, ACE is easier to calculate, wind value in knots squared per 6 hour and add them all up and divide by 10,000.
On the other hand, we have Integrated Kinetic Energy (IKE). Coincidently, it also spells out Ike, which had one of the highest IKE values from a tropical cyclone. The formula is more complicated than ACE. Here is an article about IKE.
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/ike/Files/ ... inal-1.pdf
An intense and large hurricane, like Katrina, is going to have a much higher IKE value than an intense and small hurricane, like Charley. It would be interesting to add all the IKE values, like we add ACE values.
