Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis on hurricanes
Analysis on hurricanes
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Analysis on hurricanes
1. Introduction
Katrina, Charley, Nina, Sandy and Yasi these are some names that will leave the hearts and minds of those devastated by Mother Nature’s sheer power of destruction. According to Lakshmi Kantha, “Hurricanes, more appropriately tropical cyclones, have the potential to be highly destructive to coastal structures, habitats and communities” [1].
The European Wind Energy Association have intensions of installing offshore wind farms with 40 GW rating by 2020 and 150 GW rating by 2030[2]. Professor Mark Z. Jacobson at Stanford conducted simulations in which massive arrays of offshore wind farms were used to try and reduce the wind speed of hurricanes. "We found that when wind turbines are present, they slow down the outer rotation winds of a hurricane," stated Mark Jacobson [3]. Using their sophisticated climate-weather model, the researchers simulated hurricanes Katrina, Isaac and Sandy to examine what would happen if large wind farms, with tens of thousands of turbines, had been in the storms' paths. They found that, as the hurricane approached, the wind farm would remo...
With concern over global warming growing, people are starting to turn a more serious eye toward cleaner sources of energy. Instead of solar power making a comeback as the ideal form, we are seeing a growth in the use of wind power. Wind farms are beginning to crop up all around the country. This new trend has gathered significant attention. Questions are being raised concerning the effects wind farms may have, from critics and supporters alike. Michelle Nijhuis, in the article “Selling the Wind” discusses the arguments on behalf of and in opposition to the increasing use of wind power, addressing what the consequences may be on the United States.
Leading up to the hurricane, many scientists expected the storm to dissipate over the ocean and cause little to no harm (Rappaport). The scientists were relying on faulty equipment that said that due to slow air speed and l...
A hurricane is easily the most powerful storm that mother-nature can throw at us. Every year people who live on the coasts fight hurricanes with no dismay. A hurricane is simply too strong. Their winds reach speeds of 75 mph. The winds around the eye wall can reach 130 to 150 mph. They are 200 to 300 miles in diameter. The number of casualties is endless, as well as the widespread destruction that takes millions of dollars to repair. Even if the hurricane doesn’t cause a lot of damage, the storm surge will. Storm surge is the great tidal waves that crash into our coasts and make huge floods that are caused by hurricanes.
On August 29th, 2006 New Orleanians were expecting a total of 12 to 15 inches of rain and extended five or six inches from the upcoming storm later known as the costliest hurricane in U.S history. The Category 3 hurricane devastated most of eastern North America with blustery winds of 170 mph (280 km per hour) and storm surge values ranging from 10 to 20 feet. The storm called ‘’Hurricane Katrina’’ originated in the Bahamas on August 23th, 2005, but only became a devastation the next day. On August 28th, Hurricane Katrina succeeded a Category 3 hurricane(sustained winds of 122 kt) and exceeded the limits of a Category 5 storm (sustained winds of 136 kt). The following day, the cyclone shifted northwest towards Mississippi and Louisiana, where the hurricane hit the hardest. New Orleans was one of the cities where the most damage was caused; leaving a negative environment, residential and economic effects on the Gulf Coast.
This paper gives us information about “Hurricane Sandy”. It is known as “Super storm Sandy”, off the record. It was the most disastrous hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season along with being the second hurricane that created financial crisis in United States history. In 1953, the National Weather Service started naming the storms after women. As a matter of fact, there are six lists of names for naming storms in the Atlantic. It was the eighteenth storm in the list, tenth hurricane and second large hurricane of the year 2012. It was a Category 3 storm according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, when it made landfall in Cuba. While it was a Category 2 storm off the coast of the Northeastern United States, the storm became the biggest Atlantic hurricane enlisted (according to diameter, with winds ranging 1,100 miles (1,800 km)).
On August 29, 2005, the third strongest and biggest hurricane ever recorded in American history hit the Gulf Coast at eight o’clock a.m. The interaction between a tropical depression and a tropical wave created a tropical storm later referred to as Hurricane Katrina (FAQS, 2013). Forming over the Bahamas, Hurricane Katrina gradually strengthened as it moved closer and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. Recorded on August 28th, 2005, Katrina jumped from a category three storm to a category five storm with maximum sustained winds up to 160 miles per hour. Although other hurricanes, such as Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma, exceeded Katrina, this dominant storm was classified as the fourth most intense hurricane based its pressure capacity. Once Hurricane Katrina hit land, it was pronounced as a category four storm moving slowly. While people thought that the slow speed of this storm prevented trauma, records show that Katrina did more damage than any fast-moving storm could have ever achieved (Solanki, 2013). Katrina produced abundant debris. The debris was in such large quantity that if it was stacked together on a football field, the rubble would reach the elevation of ten and a half miles. The size of Katrina also caused 90,000 square miles to be affected. Once proclaimed a category three storm, Hurricane Katrina slowed to the speed of 155 miles per hour. At this point in time, Katrina proved to be the sixth most prevailing hurricane traced in history. (Solanki, 2013). Several different aspects of life were impacted by Hurricane Katrina such as availability of gasoline, economic issues, and the ability to have an adequate supply of drinking water (Solanki, 2013). Hurricane Katrina was a large storm ...
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...
Hurricanes are one of the deadliest and most expensive natural disasters around. They are more common in areas of humid yet moist weather so they are very foreign to certain places. But to the places were hurricanes are the norm, the people take them extremely seriously because they kill people and ruin countless amounts of property. Hurricanes can attack and harm people in so many ways they can kill people, leave them homeless, it leaves children orphaned and disable them. On the west coast of the United States and other places hurricanes aren’t taken as seriously as other more common disasters, such as, earthquakes and volcanoes yet the hurricane can be a lot more damaging that both of those. Hurricanes are cyclones that develop over warm oceans and breed winds that blow yup to 74 miles per hour.
In South America lies the largest and most wondrous rainforest in the world, the Amazon Rainforest. This 1.4 billion acre forest represents over half of the planets remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most bio-diverse tract of rainforest in the world. Ten percent of all known species on the planet are found in this rain forest, most of which have yet to be discovered. For the past century, the Amazon has been gradually decreasing in size due to agricultural expansion, ranching, infrastructure projects, energy exploration and illegal logging. At its current state, the Amazon is losing land equal to the size of the state of Delaware every year. The destruction of this forest releases 340 million tons of carbon per year according to the World Wildlife Foundation, or WWF, which in turn cause climate changes everywhere around the world. Undiscovered species can hold the key to curing a plethora of diseases, but if those species become extinct those keys are lost forever. If nothing is done to prevent this, the world’s treasure trove of bio-diversity will cease to exist, creating irreversible damage to not only the South American people but also the rest of the world.
Many of these causes could be prevented fairly easily. If people today would just follow some simple rules, none of these would be as big as they are now.
Reading up information and searching for clues (which were not extremely easy), turns out to have broadened my knowledge on Nature and Biomimicry itself and that there are so many people already using wind turbines to harvest the winds energy and know how the world can be saved. Therefore I have come to the conclusion and have seen that my hypothesis has been proven right.
Wind turbines are a great source of energy all around the world. Wind Turbines produce wind energy that can be used to power our homes. Wind turbines convert Kinetic energy into mechanical power. Then this mechanical power gets generated into electricity. Wind turbines make energy by the wind turning the large blades, which spin a shaft that is connected to the large blades, which then operates the generator making electricity. One new idea is building wind turbines offshore in the mid-Atlantic. Offshore building of wind turbines means that these large turbines will be placed in the Atlantic Ocean. The building of these wind turbines will provide energy to states like Maryland, Delaware, New York, Virginia, and New Jersey. These states want to start this project as soon as possible so that the states can start saving money. Since these regions right now are burning fossil fuels uncontrollably with incredible impacts (not only to our air, but to our health) it is crucial to start right away. Offshore wind turbines will provide more jobs, cut pollution, stop warming of our planet, and save us energy costs. These wind turbines can make enough energy offshore to power about 500,000 thousand homes. However, many people disagree with this idea because they believe it is too expensive.
Hurricanes occur all over the world, at different times, but commonly through June first and late November. However in late August 2005 a catastrophic hurricane struck. This was Hurricane Katrina. With winds traveling over one hundred miles per hour making it a category five on the Saffir- Simpson Hurricane Scale it was said to have cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage. Hurricane Katrina flooded nearly forty thousand homes, and killed at least two thousand people (“Hurricane”). An average category five hurricane has enough energy to power street lamps for more than twenty seven thousand hours (Williams 58). Knowing about Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation of the city in New Orleans would be beneficial. Also, general information on hurricanes can help civilians and people of higher authority better understand and prepare for damage that could once hit their town and community. Because experts know the general information on these storms they can help explain to the public why and how Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes occur. Hopefully, in the future civilians will know and use this information to their advantage against hurricanes.
The wind is an incredibly valuable renewable energy source and is in the forefront of renewable energy developments. It is used to convert wind energy into energy that can be harnessed and used via a variety of methods, including; wind turbines, windmills, sails and windpumps. For a renewable energy source, however, it is wind turbines that are used to generate electricity (see figure 1). Wind power has been used for this since the end of the nineteenth century, after Professor James Blyth of the Royal College of Science and Technology first attempted it (Boyle, 2012). However, It wasn’t until the 1980s that using wind power technology was sufficient enough to experience a rapid growth of the technology.
Wind is a form of solar energy. The term wind energy describes the process by which the wind is used to generate electricity or mechanical power. Wind turbines convert mechanical energy from the wind into electrical power. Wind turbines usually have three main parts. There are blades that connect to a central hub, a box behind the blades that contains the generator, and a long stem that connects to the ground. The way how it works is that the wind turns the blades, which spins a shaft that connects to a generator making electricity. After the electricity is produced it is sent through transmission lines to a substation that is sent to business and homes. For the sake of our planet, we must promote a renewable energy economy. Wind power can be a foundation of that sustainable energy future because it provides jobs in states that are building wind turbines, is a renewable energy source, and does not damage our environment. The environment will not be damaged by the pollution, the natural resources will not be used up, and there won’t be generating of hazardous wastes. Welcoming wind energy today will lay the foundation for a healthy tomorrow that will affect everyone in the United States. There are obstacles and challenges that will make it more difficult, but the environmental impact is well worth it to invest more money into wind energy.