Growth Rate of Essential Surfaces via Measured Laminations

We show that in any Haken 3-manifold $M$, the dimensions of $\mathcal{M}\mathcal{L}(M)$ and ${\mathcal{M}\mathcal{L}}_0(M)$ can be calculated using normal surfaces. As a corollary, we prove the number of closed orientable essential surfaces of Euler characteristic at least $-2n$ in a closed orientable hyperbolic 3-manifold with $H_2(M,\mathbb{Z}\mathrm{/}2\mathbb{Z})=0$ is asymptotic to $n^{\dim {\mathcal{M}\mathcal{L}}_0(M)}$.