what are tropical storms?
tropical storms are intense low pressure systems
what are the different names for tropical storms?
- Typhoons - south china sea and west pacific ocean
- Hurricanes - gulf of mexico, west coast of mexico and caribbean sea
- Cyclones - in the bag of bengal, indian ocean and northern australia
what are charecteristic oof tropical storms?
- heavy rainfall
- high windspeeds (over 119kmph)
- high waves and storm surges
what would be considered intense low pressure?
950mb
where do tropical storms occur?
between 5° and 20° north and south of the equator
what is the eye of the storm?
- the centre of the tropical storm
- calm and clear conditions with low windspeeds, little/ no cloud
- the eye is calm as air sinks in the eye, sinking air warms and prevents cloud formation creating a tempoary break in severe weather
- usually 20-50km wide
what happens around the eye of the storm?
- the eye is surrounded by the eye wall
- the eye wall has the strongest winds, heaviest rainfall and tall cumluonimbus clouds
what factors affect the formation of tropical storms?
- oceans- tropical storms gain large amounts of moisture from oceans for the formation of clouds and precipitation
- high temperatures- sea surface temperatures over 27°C are needed to provide energy to power the storm through high rates of evaporation and condensation
- coriolis effect - the rotation of the earth causes air to move around the centre of the eye in a circular motion
- atmospheric instability - in tropical regions warm moist air near the surface rises creating instability and the formation of clounds and precipitation
- low wind shear- if this is too high, it can distrupt the organisation of the storm and orevent it from strengthening
what are the stages of tropical cyclone formation?
- warm moist air rises quickly forming an area of intense low pressure
- air from high pressure areas rushes in the replace rising air forming strong winds
- this air then rises forming a continuous flow of rising air
- as the air rises it cools and condenses forming large cumulonimbus clouds
- these clouds form the eye wall of the storm and produce heavy rainfall
- condensation releases energy which helps power the storm
- air at the top of the storm goes outward away from the centre of the storm
- the coriolis effect causes rising air to spiral around the centre creating a clam dry area known as the eye of the storm
- tropical storms will die out is the heat energy and moisture from the ocean are no longer available to drive the storm
what are hazards storms cause?
- high winds - over 119kmph uprooting trees and damaging infastructure leading to injuries and loss of life
- intense rainfall - leading to flash floods, damaging property and injuring people
- storm surges - when large volumes of water are forced inland by low pressure that causes the surface to rise, serveral metres high - flooding erode beaches, damage sea defences and contaminate farmland and freshwater
- coastal and river flooding- caused by intense rainfall and storm surges, affecting low-lying land e.g. farmland, and can affects the tourism industry
- landslides- triggered due to soil becoming saturated due to intense rainfall, increasing the weight of soil and making it unstable
measuring tropical storms???
saffir-simpson scale
important to note that windspeed isnt the only factor that determines the severity of the storm
how frequent are tropical storms?
- fairly frequent in many arts of the world
- on average there are about 80 tropical storms each year
- they tend to occur over the tropical storm season which for the northern hemisphere is june - november, southern hemisphere november - april (can be usefull for preparation and monitoring)
what sources are used to predict tropical storms and how are they predicted?
predicting tropical storms is done by gathering data form a wide range of sources:
* satellites
* weather ballons
* radar
* ocean bouys
this data is then fed into computor models that simulate the behaviour of the atmosphere and ocean and healp predict the likely path and intensity of the storm
how accurate is tropical storm prediction?
they are fairly accurate and sophisticated models but there are still uncertainties and they arent aloways accurate and precise especially over long-term
whats the difference between primary and secondary impacts of storm hazards?
primary impacts are the immediate impacts of strong winds, high rainfall and storm surges, and secondary impacts are the impacts that occur later after the storm has passed
what are the social impacts of tropical storms?
primary
* deaths and injuries
* displacement of people
* damage to properties and infastructure
secondary
* * mental heath issues
* homelessness
* disruption to services like healthcare and education
* loss of cultural heritage sites
what are the economic impacts of tropical storms?
primary
* destruction of property and infastructure, cost of repair
* distruption of trade and economic activity
* loss of income and employment
* cost of immediate responces e.g. food aid and termporary shelter
secondary
* slower economic growth and development
* increased economic inequality as impacts are most severve for most vunerable people
* increased cost of insurance and management stratergies
what are the environmental impacts of tropical storms?
primary
* poor water quality due to pollution
* loss of biodiversity as freshwater habitats are inundated with salt water
* destruction of habitats and ecosystems like salt marshes
secondary
* soil erosion and land degration - decreasing soil fertility
* loss of habitat affects migratory species like birds
* loss of coral reefs, sand dunes , mangrove forests ect.
what are political impacts of tropical storms?
- pressure on the government to coordinate a responce
- conflicts over responce
- social unrest and political instability
what are short-term responces to tropical strorms?
when a storm is predicted, happening or immediately after
- evacuation of people before the sorm hits
- resucued people before cut off by the storm and treatment of injuries
- recovering dead bodies to prevent water and air borne disease
- set up temporary shelters for displaced people and prove supplies like food, water
- restor communication systems
- overseas aid
what are some example of preparedness and adaption?
(to make people more aware of hazards and take action to minimise risk)
- governments plan evacuation routes
- monitoring stystems track storms and issue warnings
- people enouraged to stock up on food incase they cant leave there houses for several days due to a storm
- training and education on the impacts of tropical storms
- emergency services trained for disaters
- early warning systems
- cover windowes to prevent glass breaking and becoming flying debris
what are long-term responces to a tropical storm?
- improving long-term forcasting techniques
- provide aid and grants to residents to repair and strengthen properties
- repair and imporve flood defences
- repair and replace home and infastructure
- improve building regualtions so more buildings can survive the stroms in future
- encourage economic insentive to encourage people to return
how can land use zoning reduce impacts of tropical storms?
preventing tropical storms isnt possible but land use zoning can reduce impacts by limiting development and activity in high risk areas
how can you mitigate against tropical storms?
- strengthening buildings so they are safer and less likely to be destroyed - less deaths from debris and collapsing buildings
- building on stilts to aviod flood waters, use reinforced concrete, fixed roofs instead of tiles
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