The Effects of
Climate Change on Hurricane Sandy
Purpose: Hurricane Sandy, is the super storm that was
plaguing the east coast in October. The hurricane has brought storm surges,
flooding and extreme winds to the New York and New Jersey areas. There are
clear connections between the extreme storm conditions and the growing effects
of climate change. The rising sea levels due to melting ice caps have worsened
storm surges. Climate change is increasing global ocean temperatures, which
increase flooding by bringing more rain. The once rare October hurricanes are
now more common because of hotter temperatures. Overall, hurricane intensity
has grown due to climate change, and it is yet to be determined whether or not
they are increasing in numbers. The finding in this article has direct implications
for future natural disasters; climate change is making them more common and
possible worse.
Discussion Questions:
1. Why does North America have such a high increase in the
intensity of natural disasters?
2. Could climate change be increasing the abundance of
natural disasters?
3. How could climate change effect natural disasters in
California?
Evidence:
"With every degree C, the
water holding of the atmosphere goes up 7%, and the moisture provides fuel for
the tropical storm, increases its intensity, and magnifies the rainfall by
double that amount compared with normal conditions."
http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1029-hance-climate-hurricane-sandy.html
http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1029-hance-climate-hurricane-sandy.html
“But
the sea level rise has been even more pronounced of the U.S. east coast. A
study from this summer found that sea levels in the region have been rising on
average 2 to 3.8 millimeters a year during the last sixty years, cumulatively,
that's around 5-9 inches.”
http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1029-hance-climate-hurricane-sandy.html
http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1029-hance-climate-hurricane-sandy.html
“Warmer
weather in the north allows hurricanes to travel further than they usually
would, while hotter seasons increase the chances of October hurricanes on the
eastern seaboard, once a rarity.”
http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1029-hance-climate-hurricane-sandy.html
http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1029-hance-climate-hurricane-sandy.html
“In
fact, a 2010 review paper in Nature Geoscience found that global warming will
bump up the number of particularly intense hurricanes by 2-11 percent,
hurricanes just like the "Frankenstorm" Sandy.”
“Over the past half-century,
temperatures and precipitation in the United States have gradually increased,
more of the precipitation has fallen in heavy storms, sea level and sea surface
temperatures have risen, and other aspects of climate have also changed.”
“When weather varies outside
this range of tolerance, however, damages increase very disproportionately. As
floodwaters rise, damages are minimal as long as the levees hold, but when
levees are overtopped, damages can be catastrophic. If roofs are constructed to
withstand 80 mile per hour (mph) winds, a storm bringing 70 mph winds might
damage only a few shingles, but if winds rose to 100 mph, roofs might come off
and entire structures be destroyed. Plants can withstand a dry spell with
little loss of yield, but a prolonged drought will destroy the entire crop. The
most alarming risks of damage from climate change arise from an increasing
likelihood of such extreme weather events, not from a gradual change in average
conditions.”
“Insured losses from
disasters globally averaged $9 billion a year in the 1980s. By the 2000s, the
average soared to $36 billion per year. The costliest weather disasters in the
USA since 1980, as defined by insured losses, have all been hurricanes,
led by Katrina in 2005 ($62 billion) and Ike in 2008 ($18 billion).”
References:
http://find.galegroup.com/grnr/infomark.do?&source=gale&idigest=89ddd7165d02d7a155d3cfb81a5932ec&prodId=GRNR&userGroupName=san92165&tabID=T004&docId=CJ304985284&type=retrieve&contentSet=IAC-Documents&version=1.0
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