According to the National Hurricane Center, a hurricane releases heat energy at a rate of 50 trillion to 200 trillion watts, which is equivalent to the energy from exploding 10 megaton bombs every 20 minutes. With such strength, it is no wonder why these natural disasters have such large destructive impacts on the environment. Furthermore, hurricanes are of extreme importance to Florida, since they have historically overwhelmed the state, especially in 1992 with Hurricane Andrew. Since it is certain that hurricanes will hit Florida and equally certain that biological populations (including people) will exist in Florida, there is a need for researching methods to coexist with these monstrous storms.
First, to be able to create solutions to hurricane damage, experts must understand the physical manner in which hurricanes actually cause damage. Roger Pielke, in his hurricane book, The Hurricane, identifies four impacts of a hurricane: storm surge, extreme winds, tornadoes, and rainfall. These impacts are not completely separate from each other; they interact, but are different in scope. storm surge refers to the rapid rise of sea level as a storm approaches a coastline. This is the biggest impact of a hurricane and accounts for 90% of hurricane deaths (Pielke 1990).
Storm surges are caused by three factors. First, the overlying atmosphere pressure drops. Second, strong onshore winds cause a piling up of water at the coast. Third, the decreasing sea depth as the ocean approaches the coast causes the surge to get steeper. A storm surge of 15 feet corresponds to a level 5 hurricane, and a surge greater than 5 feet can cause major damage and loss of life. Since surges reduce as they move inland, surges are mostly destructive to beaches. Extreme winds, which carry a lot of kinetic energy, can cause significant structural damage and even endanger life with dangerous wreckage. The damage of winds is relative to the kinetic flow, which is exponential. For example, a wind of 50 ms-1 is four times greater than winds of 25 ms-1. In addition, winds are not restricted to the coasts; extreme winds appear and are destructive far inland. Tornadoes are connected with extreme winds. Although hurricane induced tornadoes are not as strong as the “normal” ones that appear in the Midwest, they still cause a lot of damage and are dangerous to life. Tornadoes are mysterious, but there are theories on their causes. Tornadoes form as a response to large vertical shears of horizontal wind that develop as lower level wind is slowed by ground friction. The large velocity shears tilt due to spatially varying vertical motion, which causes circulation to complete the tornado. Tornadoes can form far inland. Rainfall is the mildest impact, although it still causes major damage and erosion. Even weak tropical disturbances can cause extreme rainfall. This extreme rainfall can cause flash floods or cause body of waters to flood. Rainfall becomes too much and after the hurricane hits land.
The Essay on Tropical Cyclone And Scale Hurricane Structure
At the end of this lesson students should be able to: • Define the term “hurricane” • List three categories of a hurricane. • Tell how a hurricane is formed • State how a hurricane is measured and name a scale which is used. • Define the structure of a hurricane • Explain the effects and impacts on the environment and the society. Definition A Hurricane is a severe storm with a violent wind. A ...
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Florida had the most hurricane strikes from 1900 to 1996 of any other state in the United States with 57 hurricanes. Texas was a far second with 36. With such an intense hurricane history, it is no wonder why hurricanes are a major environmental problem facing Florida. For examples, a 1928 hurricane hit Lake Okeechobe and killed 1800 people (Stormfax Weather Almanac 1997), and 1994 Hurricane Gordon caused significant beach erosion along Florida’s east coast and $275 million in agricultural damage by flooding Dade and Collier counties (NHC Hurricane Andrew 1994).
The Essay on Hurricane Floyd Winds Reach
A hurricane is easily the most powerful storm that mother-nature can throw at us. Every year people who live on the coasts fight hurricanes with no dismay. A hurricane is simply too strong. Their winds reach speeds of 75 mph. The winds around the eye wall can reach 130 to 150 mph. They are 200 to 300 miles in diameter. The number of casualties is endless, as well as the widespread destruction that ...
The best example of the powerful destruction of hurricanes to Florida is hurricane Andrew. According to the National Hurricane Center’s report on hurricane Andrew, total damage was estimated at $25 billion! Fortunately, good preparation prevented major loss of life as 26 people died directly from the hurricane. Over $2 billion dollars was needed to deal with environmental damage from the storm. Also, Ocean Oil reported that there were seven incidents of pollution from the hurricane destroying oil structures in the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps worst of all, the $15 billion of damage to private property left many people homeless, with most of their possessions destroyed. This hurricane caused major economical, sociological, and environmental problems in Florida.
The problem of hurricanes must be deal with by finding a solution. One approach to eliminating the impact of hurricanes is to try eliminating hurricanes themselves with brute force. Although this might seem fantastic and impossible, it is actually a reasonable situation that has been studied since the early 1960s. The possibilities range from importing icebergs to using nuclear bombs. The most famous attempt to alter hurricanes was the “Stormfury” experiment. Stormfury, as explained by Robert Simpson in The Hurricane and Its Impact, started in 1961 in the attempt to prevent hurricane Esther. The project’s goal was to reduce maximum wind speed (which exponentially reduces wind force) by causing the eye wall to expand. This was accomplished by using generators to “seed” clouds in the eye wall with silver-iodide-crystal smoke. Silver iodide forces supercooled water, water that is below 32 degrees F but is still liquid, to freeze. This release of latent heat would upset the balance of forces in the vortex, causing the eye wall to expand farther away from the center. The conservation principle for absolute sharp drive proves that the further maximum winds are from the center, the slower their speeds will be. Cloud-seeding and “Stormfury” had their most success with hurricane Debbie in 1969 when winds fell 30% on the first day of seeding. However, poor observation equipment of the day can not tell between the difference from wind reduction caused by seeding and wind reduction caused by natural formation changes in the hurricane. Also, there is now evidence that changing a hurricanes wind power would also stop its course ######(NEWSWEEK ONLINE 1998).
The Essay on Hurricanes Hurricane Damage Winds Miles
Hurricane, what does it mean? What do hurricanes do? What kind of powers do they possess? Where regions of the world are mostly affected by these hurricanes? All these questions I plan to answer in the following paragraphs. One thing we do know for sure is that a hurricane is one of the most devastating storms that Mother Nature has to offer. We also know that hurricanes cause a lot of damage to ...
An altered hurricane that redirects and hits Cuba would cause major foreign policy problems. Furthermore, hurricanes help balance the Earth’s heat budget. Trying to change hurricanes to save Florida could have undesired global effects. Such uncertainties have convinced scientists to be more cautious about hurricane experimentation. However, since technology is growing exponentially, perhaps this approach can be reevaluated in the future. SOLUTIONS BY COEXISTENCE Since, for the time being, hurricanes are here to stay, Florida must develop better methods to coexist with hurricanes. There is an aesthetic quality to the coastal beauty of Florida (that is represented in economic quantities) that will keep populations growing, even though it is a great hurricane risk. Public policies to help the coexistence are further complicated by legal and political reasons. Many policies have failed because of a balance of power between individual and governmental rights. For example, ordinances to require more hurricane proof buildings fail because of costs involved and the politics of business persuading legislature. Although hurricane Andrew expanded public awareness to the dangers of hurricanes (including insurance companies’ awareness to not cover Florida residents), there are still problems with public cooperation.
An example of this is public responses to evacuation orders. Earl Baker, in his essay, “Coping With Hurricane Evacuation Difficulties,” explains how the public can be confused on whether there are official “orders” to evacuate or just “advice” to evacuate. Even in cases where there are clear official orders, 6 to 50% of the public might not respond. There are several ways to combat this problem. First, the government can expand funds on hurricane prevention education. Second, infrastructures can be improved to allow easier evacuations. Third, better sensing equipment and tracking methods can be developed to better predict hurricane paths and danger. SUMMARY Improving evacuation procedures and increasing hurricane protection public policy are the only available methods Florida residents can use to better coexist with the impacts of hurricanes.
The Term Paper on Affirmative Action Public Opinion Vs Policy
Affirmative Action: Public OPinion vs. Policy When Justin Ketcham, a white college student from the suburbs, thinks about affirmative action, he thinks about what happened when he sent out letters seeking scholarships so he could attend Stanford University after being accepted during his senior year of high school. The organizations that wrote back told him their money was reserved for women or ...
Bibliography
Baker, Earl. Hurricanes and Coastal Storms. “Coping With Hurricane Evacuation Difficulties.” Florida Sea Grant College: 1980. NHC Hurricane Andrew. [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1992andrew.html] NHC Hurricane Gordon. [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1994gordon.html] Pielke, Roger. The Hurricane. Routledge: New York. 1990. Simpson, Robert. The Hurricane and Its Impact. Louisiana State University Press: Baton Rouge. 1981. Stormfax Weather Almanac. [http://stromfax.com] USA TODAY ONLINE. [http://www.usatoday.com/weather/askjack/]
