Risk due to Hurricanes, Tracking the Storm, EI Nino and ENSO

Deaths due to hurricanes

The deadliest presence hurricane in the U.S history was at the Galveston Island. In Texas storm of 1900 estimated to be a category of 4 storms. This storm claimed more than 6000 deaths and is also noted as the worst natural disaster in our country's history. The storm surge was 16 feet in which 18 of the 54 direct deaths attributed to the hurricane Andrew occurred during the recovery phase. Among Of those identified eight were responsible for inducing stress-induced heart attacks three were either people falling in the damaged building or hit by the debris while cleaning up, two were children who died in fires in the damaged homes. National wide hurricanes annually account for the average of the 17 deaths while flooding deaths average 147 per year.

Costs due to hurricanes

The costly type of hurricane was the Andrew hurricane in August 1992. It was also the third strongest storm to hit the United States. It hit both the states of the Florida and Louisiana. In which The estimated damage caused by that hurricane is above the $25 billion.

In less than the four week period in 1992, almost two hurricanes hit the United States leaving an unprecedented array of the devastation. First hurricane Andrew pounded in the Florida and Louisiana to become the most expensive natural disaster in the US history with the damage of the estimated in the range of the $15 billion to $30 billion. Then later on after the three weeks, hurricane Iniki affected three Hawaiian Islands resulting over in over $1 billion in damage, that is particularly on the Kauai.

In 1996 the costs which were associated with the damages in the United States was over the $3.5 billion. This season included hurricane type of Bertha and Fran, both of which hits the state of the North Carolina. In 1992 Andrew hurricane hit the south Dade country where the population is approximately 350000. If this type of hurricane had hit the 20 miles north it would have hit the Miami and affected over 1.6 million people.

Characteristics of hurricanes

Hurricane winds in the Northern hemisphere used to circulate in a counterclockwise motion around the hurricane centre or eye while the hurricane winds in the southern hemisphere used to circulate clockwise. A natural phenomenon which affects a storm includes the temperature of the water and the Gulfstream and steering wind currents.

The naming of the storm has a unique history. Early on storms were named for the location where they hit or a particular that they made landfall i.e the labour day hurricane. In 1950 the first hurricane name was easy that hit the coast of the Florida in major . In 1953 the department of defence started the named of hurricanes by a numeric naming like that of i.e Able baker Charlie etc. After three years this was abandoned and alphabetical naming of storms using female names was implemented. Hurricanes form in the Atlantic ocean gulf of Mexico Indian ocean and Caribbean sea as well as in the pacific ocean. The national weather services tropical prediction centre i.e national hurricane centre tracks storm during the hurricane season mainly. Historically they have tracked up to seventy-six systems during a season. most hurricanes travel from the Cape Verde Africa but only 1 of 10 systems becomes a named tropical storm in general.

Tracking the storm

The NWS uses the following devices to track storms:

1: photography every 30 minutes from weather satellites 22,000 miles above the equator for the earlier safety.

2: aircraft reconnaissance which gives detailed cross-sectional data from inside the hurricane to be safe and 3 lands based radar which can give information on the storm from 100-200 miles of the coast.

Aircraft reconnaissance for hurricanes is usually handled by the 53^rd weather reconnaissance squadron which is known commonly as the hurricane hunters.

Risks of hurricane

Florida is the most hurricane-prone state in the United States with the south-east being the most at risk from the economic as well as health view . This state being a peninsula has the potential of having hurricanes strike from the Atlantic or the Gulf in major. Though busy years sparks our attention, 1983 had only 4 named storms yet hurricane Alicia which hit Galveston, Texas that while in 1992 there were only 6 named storms but hurricane Andrew had hit Florida and Louisiana. The average number of storms is probably overstated since it does not take in effect the intensity of the storms which exist and make landfall.

Evacuation of hurricane

From Texas to Maine, over 44 million people were residing in the coastal countries and barrier islands. Weekends and holidays can increase this number from 10 to 100 percent of tourists. To evacuate people roads must be in place to handle mass evacuations. The more people who live in the coastal areas without new roads have the more difficult it is to evacuate. It takes longer to evacuate today than it did 10 years ago in average. It takes over 30 hours to safely evacuated the coastal cities of the Galveston Texas New Orleans, Louisiana Key West, as well as Florida and ocean city Maryland.

EI Nino and ENSO affecting of Asia

Under normal condition, the water of the eastern pacific of the equator, Peru and northern chilli are surprisingly as cold as 10-degree centigrade than the normal value of water. This part of eastern pacific is teeming with the fish since their cold water is rich in nutrients. But once every 5-10 years from December to March, the water of te eastern pacific warms up a little i.e 4 degrees higher than normal values which disrupt the upwelling of cold water. This, in turn, disrupts the anchovy fishery key to Peruvian economy. This phenomenon is called the EI Nino. The term EI Nino is used to refer to the periods of the strong and prolonged warm weather which influence the climate worldwide. The periods of the warm water in the eastern pacific i.e EI Nino and the periods of coolers water i.e La Nina are accompanied by changes in air pressure in the east and the west pacific these are called the southern oscillation. The whole cycle is nowadays referred as the EI Nino southern oscillation (ENSO). Among the many global phenomena connected to the El Nino- southern oscillation is Asian monsoons. The migration of the monsoon each year has been linked to the tropical pacific rainfall patterns that are the part of the ENSO. During a typical EI Nino, the Asian monsoon usually, weakens and is pushed towards the equator often bringing summer drought to the north-west and the central regions of India and heavy rainfall in the north-east. Recent work using computer models of ENSO hints that storage of the heat throughout the tropical ocean is a key element. Apparently, as rainfall and cloud cover are reduced during El Nino the increased solar input heats up the ocean especially in the deep western- pacific warm pool. During El, Nino heat is transported from the tropics to higher latitudes by ocean currents and the additional heat goes to the atmosphere mainly through evaporation. Global temperature averages can reflect this heat input rising by as much as 0.3-degree centigrade in the months after a strong ENSO event. Thus, the tropical pacific oceans loses heat during El Nino and gains it during the La Nina. The persistent oceanic heat surrounding Indonesia and other western-pacific islands leads to the frequent thunderstorms and the some of the heaviest rainfall on the earth. Some of the studies have related to the onset of the EI Nino to the anomalous snowfall over Asia and to the south-east Asian monsoon. EI Nino affects the weather in the large parts of the world. The effects depend strongly on the location and the season. The strongest effects on precipitation are in the south-east Asia and the western pacific ocean. Especially in the dry season i.e August- November, there are temperature effects throughout most of the tropics. The number of the tropical cyclones also depends on the El Nino in most basins. In the major sugar growing area of the world, EI Nino influence can be attributed to dryness. That occurred sometime during the past several months in the Indonesia, Philippines, north India and Hawaii. No consistent rainfall pattern is associated with the EI Nino in china. Typically, the maximum impact of the EI Nino is seen around the globe during the march. If as usually happens the waters in the tropical pacific return to the normal by early summer the impacts will lessen and disappear by the early summer. If the warm waters persist into the summer there is a chance that the Indian monsoon will be disrupted. Droughts of greater severity and the length could be in store for Australia and the Indonesia if the Asian monsoon systems Continues strengthen. Stronger monsoons in the Asia led to the greater ocean cooling in the eastern Indian ocean, which in turn increased the drought causing effects of the Indian Ocean Dipole in the Indonesia and Australia. Changes in the surface temperature and the winds in this oceanic floods in Africa and droughts in Australia.

Yield of rice consistently less in equatorial regions than temperate regions

Although there is high solar input in the equatorial region than the temperate regions but the yield of rice is consistently less. This may be due to the following regions:

A: in general high temperature i.e high water stress require that the plant expands more of its gross production energy in respiration. Thus, it costs more to maintain the plant structure in hot climates.

B: in equatorial regions, the length of the day is shorter than in the temperate regions. The longer the length of the day more is the solar radiation is converted into the chemical energy during photosynthesis. So there is large accumulation of the organic matter i.e energy once in this case in temperate regions than in the equatorial regions having the comparatively shorter wavelength.

References:

.S.C., Santee. Environmental Science. India, New Center: New Center Book Agency (P) Ltd, 2004.

Lal, D.S. Climatology, Sharda Pustak Bhawan, Allahabad.(2010)