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7 Cards in this Set
- Front
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Hurricanes (aka cyclone or typhoon)
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- An intense storm that brings heavy rainfall, strong winds, high waves, and secondary hazards such as flooding and mudslides.
- Starts over a tropical body of water: - needs sea temperature above 27° C - low pressure area has to be far enough from the equator so that the Coriolis effect causes circular winds - low atmospheric pressure |
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ITCZ
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Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone
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Hurricane case study (Katrina)
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- August 2005 - Hurricane Katrina, tracking across Florida, Gulf of Mexico and New Orleans / Mississippi delta- Category 4 - difference to others - it did not just move through the area but stayed and built in intensity - economic loss $80 billion - 1800 people died - 204 000 homes damaged - 800 000 people homeless Protection - new water defences being built - improve warning system - improve evacuation plan |
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Case study (Cyclone Nargis) |
- May 2008 Nargis in Burma - winds above 190 km per hour - severe flooding due to torrential rain - 134 000 people died - 95% of buildings in the area were destroyed - loss of valuable fertile agricultural land Problems: - no visas for international aid - densely populated low lying area less than 5m above sea level |
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Saffir-Simpson Scale
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Used to measure the intensity of tropical low pressure storms (hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons) Scale has 5 categories with 1 being the least and 5 being catastrophic.
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Hurricane impacts
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- The unpredictability of hurricane paths makes effective management of hurricanes difficult
- The strongest storms do not always cause the greatest damage - The distribution of the population throughout the Caribbean islands increases the risk associated with hurricanes - Hazard mitigation depends on the effectiveness of the human response to natural events - LEDC's continue to loose more lives to natural hazards as a result of inadequate planning and preparation |
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National Hurricane Centre
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US monitoring centre based in Florida with global interest in mapping and tracking tropical storms. Great website
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