GPHY 209 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Coriolis Force, Barotropic Fluid, Trade Winds
26 Nov 2017
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Document Summary
Tropical cyclones: life span of 7-10 days, horizontal extent: 100-900km wide, less than mid-latitude cyclones, speed of system: 10-100km/hr, direction of travel- westward than variable, ex. Hurricane hunters: fly through hurricanes to collect pressure data, etc, cargo planes equipped with climate tracking instruments relay atmospheric. Naming tropical cyclones: to simplify tracking them. In the past, storms were identified based on their location: hard, because hurricanes move over the ocean, since they can movie it is simpler to name them, by naming a hurricane it is easier to track its characteristics. Retiring hurricane names: hurricanes can have major impacts on lives, often a hurricane is remembered for generations, any country affected can request that the name be retired. Hurricane strength: the saffir-simpson scale classifies hurricanes into 5 categories, increasing numbers corresponding to lower central pressures, greater wind speeds, and larger storm surges, category 5 sustained winds of over 250 winds. Hurricane strikes on mainland us from 1851-2010: charts.
