In case you don't google, here it is just one of the article :-
"
Short Sharp Science
6 September 2017
Hurricane Irma’s epic size is being fuelled by global warming
Hurricane Irma
Hurricane Irma has grown to epic size
NOAA
By Michael Le Page
It’s
a monster. As the eye of Hurricane Irma approached the tiny island of
Barbuda this morning, wind speeds soared to 250 kph before the
instrument broke.
At the time of writing, all contact with the
island had been lost and it is unclear how the 1600 inhabitants have
fared. But already reports of severe destruction are coming in from
other islands in Irma’s path.
What will happen if the climate goes over the edge? Learn more at New Scientist Live
The
destruction could be extreme. Hurricane Irma has the strongest winds of
any hurricane to form in the open Atlantic, with sustained wind speeds
of 295 kph.
.
It is also huge. The strongest winds are
limited to a relatively small area around its centre, but
hurricane-force winds of 118 kph or more extend out 85 kilometres from
its eye.
Irma could yet grow stronger and is going to graze or
directly hit many densely-populated islands in the Caribbean before
possibly making landfall in Florida on Sunday – but there is still a lot
of uncertainty about its path and intensity this far ahead.
Warmer waters
So why did Irma grow so strong? Most likely because climate change is making Atlantic waters ever warmer.
Tropical
cyclones are fuelled by warm surface waters of around 26°C or more.
They draw in moist air from all around them, and as it rises, the water
vapour condenses out and releases latent heat, which drives further
uplift. Irma’s clouds are 20 kilometres high.
Read more: How we’re living with climate change – and how we can beat it
However,
as tropical cyclones grow stronger they churn up the ocean and bring
deeper water to the surface. Usually this deeper water is cooler, and
cuts off the energy supply.
The strongest hurricanes, then, can
only grow if warm waters extend down to depth of 50 or 100 metres –
conditions normally only found in the Gulf or Caribbean.
In 1980,
Hurricane Allen reached 305 kph winds, fuelled by these warmer waters.
In 2017’s warmer world, Irma began growing way out in the Atlantic,
thanks to sea surface temperatures that were more than 1°C above
average.
Stronger storms
Hurricane intensity depends on many
other factors, too, though. For instance, winds high in the atmosphere
are often faster than those lower down, blowing away rising air and
preventing hurricanes from forming, or growing very strong. Low wind
shear helped Irma grow into a perfect storm.
Computer models
suggest global warming is likely to increase wind shear over the
Atlantic, meaning there could no more or fewer hurricanes overall, but
that storms grow stronger when they do form.
While tropical
cyclones are currently ranked according to their wind speed, storm
surges and flooding from high rainfall typically cause most of the
damage, as we saw with Harvey.
The height of a storm surge
depends not just on the strength of winds, but on their extent.
Hurricane Sandy’s winds were not that strong but the size of the storm
piled up the huge storm surge that caused most of the damage in New York
and elsewhere.
So strong winds don’t necessarily mean big
damage. The record is held by Hurricane Patricia in the eastern Pacific
in 2015, with sustained winds of 345 kph. Fortunately Patricia was
small, weakened dramatically before landfall and struck a sparsely
populated area.
Irma, ominously, is both big and intense, and
could cause big storm surges in highly populated places. Barbuda
recorded a storm surge of 2.4 metres.
The amount of rainfall
dumped by hurricanes can also vary widely depending both on a storm’s
intensity, local factor and how fast it moves. Harvey produced huge
amounts of rain because it barely moved for days.
Irma, thankfully, is moving faster – but its behaviour more than two or three days ahead remains highly uncertain.
Article amended on 7 September 2017
We have corrected the date of Hurricane Allen.
The
bill for loss and damage could hit $120 billion (100 billion euros) in
the United States and Caribbean, according to data modelling firm Enki
Research.
---
How much Donald Trump got to spend if keeping US in Paris Climate Agreement?
A fraction of $120 billion.
Now
with the volition of karma - Donald Trump will have to spend $120
billion (for Irma devastation) + $53 billion for Haley destruction.
So
is this karma punishment for Donald Trump - who selfishly disregard
humanity on Earth - by pulling out of Paris Climate Agreement - because
of Donald Trump's slogan of "American Alone"?
Now the volition of karma --- is teaching Donald Trump a solid lesson --- on "selfishness" ---- "Penny wise, Pound Foolish".
Lee Moran,HuffPost
Fri, 8 Sep 9:16 PM SGT
popopa1 hour ago@ricky l What does global warming have to do with a hurricane? Go back to mommies basement and take another toke.
No comments:
Post a Comment