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13 Cards in this Set

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  • Back
What impacts on the natural environment did Hurricane Katrina cause?
* 80% of New Orleans under water
* 7 million gallons of oil spilled
* Coastal erosion
What were the social impacts of Hurricane Katrina?
* More than 1800 lives lost
* Over 1 million displaced people
* 44% of storm victims were African-American
* Over 900,000 elderly and children were displaced
What were the economic impacts of Hurricane Katrina?
* More than $81 billion damage (USD)
* Increase in unemployment rate by 2%
What characteristics make New Orleans vulnerable to hurricanes and flooding?
* Lies in the path of summer hurricanes
* Gulf of Mexico has a warm body of water
* Coastline is low lying, swampy and exposed
* River floods and silts up causing more flooding
* Bowl shaped land keeps water in
What cultural characteristics make New Orleans vulnerable?
* New Orleans is 3 meters below Lake Pontchartrain
* Levees could only stop 1-3 category hurricanes
* Mississippi river getting shallower from silt
* Coastal resorts built on beaches
* Infrastructure
Define warm ocean
Define warm ocean
The sun heats the ocean (a minimum water temperature of 26.5°C is needed for tropical cyclones to form).
Define warm moist air
Define warm moist air
The warm ocean heats the air above and causes rapid evaporation of water.
Define coriolis force and ITCZ
Define coriolis force and ITCZ
The warm moist air rises and the coriolis force and ITCZ spin the rising air in a clockwise direction (in the southern hemisphere)
Define low pressure zone
Define low pressure zone
The moist air is sucked in, it rises and cools, condensing and forming clouds and rain.
Define jet stream
Define jet stream
Jet streams are high speed air currents circling the Earth between 10°-30° latitude. When a jet stream passes a deep depression (low) it sucks the air out of it causing more air to rush in.
Define latent heat
Define latent heat
Tropical cyclones depend on a continuous supply of warm moist air to give them energy. As the warm moist air condenses, huge amounts of heat (latent heat) are released keeping the tropical cyclone warm and the wind spiraling.
How many people were evacuated by the U.S Coastguard?
Over 33,500 were evacuated
What was the estimated cost of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina?
More than $81 billion