hurricanes – envirobites

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Where Categorizing Hurricanes Falls Short

December 12, 2020December 12, 2020 Rohini Shivamoggi 0 Comments flooding, hurricanes, sand dunes, storm surge

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating hurricanes in history, leading to over 1800 fatalities and tying Hurricane Harvey as the costliest hurricane on record. But at the time Katrina made landfall, it was “only” ranked as Category 3 by the Saffir-Simpson scale, which goes up to Category 5. So why did Katrina, at only Category 3, cause so much more destruction than most Category 5 storms? And what does that tell us about what the Saffir-Simpson scale is missing?

Climate

Climate Change is Increasing the Likelihood of Worst-Case Scenarios

October 9, 2020October 9, 2020 Rohini Shivamoggi 0 Comments climatechange, hurricanes

If you were following coverage of Hurricane Delta this week, you might’ve noticed that it seemed to come out of nowhere — one day we were all talking about Tropical Storm Gamma, and then seemingly overnight the conversation shifted to sounding alarms over Hurricane Delta. This phenomenon, in which a hurricane goes from nobody to nightmare in under a day, is known as rapid intensification. The one-two punch of rapid intensificaton being both deadly and difficult to predict has made it an urgent problem for forecasters as we all try to adjust to our changing climate.

Climate

Will there be more hurricanes because of climate change?

August 7, 2020August 7, 2020 Rohini Shivamoggi 0 Comments climatechange, hurricanes

NO ONE KNOWS, but read on to hear about some of the ways scientists are thinking about this question!

Ecosystems Environmental Science

Microbes for Disappearing Dunes

November 17, 2019November 16, 2019 Abigail Bezrutczyk 0 Comments Climate Change, Coastal Changes, Conservation, environmental science, erosion, hurricanes, microbes, plant diversity, Restoration, Sustainability

A major challenge our coastal ecosystems face is rapid loss of sand dunes due to coastal erosion. Plants play an important role in sand dune restoration. However, without the right microbes these plants may not be able to establish themselves in the dunes.

Case Studies Climate Environmental Science

Hang on to that tree! Lizards that survived hurricane Maria showed increases in grip strength

September 13, 2019 Kevin Aviles Rodriguez 0 Comments Climate, Climate Change, Ecology, hurricanes

The 2019 hurricane season started off with a bang. It’s clear that climate change has affected the frequency and severity of hurricanes. To understand whether species will be able to cope with more frequent severe storms we need more research to see how hurricanes can affect populations of plants and animals. Read on to find out how hurricane Maria in 2017 affected lizards in Dominica.

Case Studies Climate Ecosystems Environmental Science

Which Wetland? National Dataset Helps Reduce Flood Risk

September 4, 2019 Brittany Maule 0 Comments Climate Change, coastal environments, hurricanes, modeling, wetlands

Flooding is an expensive and dangerous problem across the globe. Freshwater wetlands can help reduce flood risk and damage. During large storm events, wetlands hold extra water allowing it more time to flow downstream or into the soil. In order to help communities understand where to spend their time and resources to utilize these important landscape features, researchers created a national dataset that identifies the wetlands that would be best for mitigating flood risk.

Climate Ecosystems Environmental Science Science through time

Trees, Tempests, and Time: What trees can tell us about weather in the past

April 15, 2019September 16, 2022 Ashley Riane Booth 0 Comments Climate, Climate Change, coastal environments, Ecology, hurricanes, tree rings, wetlands

For storms along the Gulf Coast, first-person recordings are only reliable for the past 150 years. But knowing more about when storms happened in the past helps us understand how the climate is changing and how to reduce storm risks for coastal communities. To do that, we have to use even more unusual records: tree rings.