Hurricanes In Florida Essay, Research Paper
According to the National Hurricane Center, a hurricane releases heat energy at
a rate of 50 trillion to 200 trillion watts, which is equivalent to the energy
from exploding 10 megaton bombs every 20 minutes. With such strength, it is no
wonder why these natural disasters have such large destructive impacts on the
environment. Furthermore, hurricanes are of extreme importance to Florida, since
they have historically plagued the state, especially in 1992 with Hurricane
Andrew. Since it is certain that hurricanes will hit Florida and equally certain
that biological populations (including people) will exist in Florida, there is a
need for researching methods to coexist with these monstrous storms. IMPACTS OF
HURRICANES First, to be able to create solutions to hurricane damage, experts
must understand the physical manner in which hurricanes actually cause damage.
Roger Pielke, in his hurricane book, The Hurricane, identifies four impacts of a
hurricane: storm surge, extreme winds, tornadoes, and rainfall. These impacts
are not completely separate from each other; they interact, but are different in
scope. Storm surge refers to the rapid rise of sea level as a storm approaches a
coastline. This is the biggest impact of a hurricane and accounts for 90% of
hurricane deaths (Pielke 1990). Storm surges are caused by three factors. First,
the overlying atmosphere pressure drops. Second, strong onshore winds cause a
piling up of water at the coast. Third, the decreasing sea depths as the ocean
approaches the coast causes the surge to get steeper. A storm surge of 15 feet
corresponds to a level 5 hurricane, and a surge greater than 5 feet can cause
major damage and loss of life. Since surges diminish as they move inland, surges
are mostly destructive to beaches. Extreme winds, which carry a lot of kinetic
energy, can cause significant structural damage and even endanger life with
dangerous debris. The damage of winds is proportional to the kinetic flow, which
is exponential. For example, a wind of 50 ms-1 is four times greater than winds
of 25 ms-1. In addition, winds are not restricted to the coasts; extreme winds
appear and are destructive far inland. Tornadoes are connected with extreme
winds. Although hurricane induced tornadoes are not as strong as the
?normal? ones that appear in the Midwest, they still cause a lot of damage
and are dangerous to life. Tornadoes are mysterious, but there are theories on
their causes. Tornadoes form as a response to large vertical shears of
horizontal wind that develop as lower level wind is slowed by ground friction.
The large velocity shears tilt due to spatially varying vertical motion, which
causes circulation to complete the tornado. Tornadoes can form far inland.
Rainfall is the mildest impact, although it still causes major damage and
erosion. Even weak tropical disturbances can cause extreme rainfall. This
extreme rainfall can cause flash floods or cause body of waters to flood.
Rainfall becomes excessive at and after the hurricane hits land. FLORIDA
PROBLEMS WITH HURRICANES According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Florida had the most hurricane strikes from 1900 to 1996
of any other state in the United States with 57 hurricanes. Texas was a far
second with 36. With such an intense hurricane history, it is no wonder why
hurricanes are a major environmental problem facing Florida. For examples, a
1928 hurricane hit Lake Okeechobe and killed 1800 people (Stormfax Weather
Almanac 1997), and 1994 Hurricane Gordon caused significant beach erosion along
Florida?s east coast and $275 million in agricultural damage by flooding Dade
and Collier counties (NHC Hurricane Andrew 1994). The best example of the
powerful destruction of hurricanes to Florida is hurricane Andrew. According to
the National Hurricane Center?s report on hurricane Andrew, total damage was
estimated at $25 billion! Fortunately, good preparation prevented major loss of
life as 26 people died directly from the hurricane. Over $2 billion dollars was
needed to cope with environmental damage from the storm. Also, Ocean Oil
reported that there were seven incidents of pollution from the hurricane
destroying oil structures in the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps worst of all, the $15
billion of damage to private property left many people homeless, with most of
their possessions destroyed. This hurricane caused major economical,
sociological, and environmental problems in Florida. SOLUTION BY FORCE The
problem of hurricanes must be dealt with by finding a solution. One approach to
eliminating the impact of hurricanes is to try eliminating hurricanes themselves
with brute force. Although this might seem fantastic and impossible, it is
actually a legitimate scenario that has been studied since the early 1960s. The
possibilities range from importing icebergs to using nuclear bombs. The most
famous attempt to alter hurricanes was the STORMFURY experiments. STORMFURY, as
explained by Robert Simpson in The Hurricane and Its Impact, started in 1961 in
the attempt to alter hurricane Esther. The project?s goal was to reduce
maximum wind speed (which exponentially reduces wind force) by causing the eye
wall to expand. This was accomplished by using generators to ?seed? clouds
in the eye wall with silver-iodide-crystal smoke. Silver iodide forces
supercooled water, water that is below 32 degrees F but is still liquid, to
freeze. This release of latent heat would upset the balance of forces in the
vortex, causing the eye wall to expand farther away from the center. The
conservation principle for absolute angular momentum proves that the further
maximum winds are from the center, the slower their speeds will be.
Cloud-seeding and STORMFURY had their most success with hurricane Debbie in 1969
when winds fell 30% on the first day of seeding. However, poor observation
equipment of the day can not distinguish the difference from wind reduction
caused by seeding and wind reduction caused by natural formation changes in the
hurricane. Also, there is now evidence that altering a hurricanes wind power
would also alter its course (NEWSWEEK ONLINE 1998). An altered hurricane that
redirects and hits Cuba would cause major foreign policy problems. Furthermore,
hurricanes help balance the Earth?s heat budget. Trying to change hurricanes
to save Florida could have undesired global effects. Such uncertainties have
convinced scientists to be more cautious about hurricane experimentation.
However, since technology is growing exponentially, perhaps this approach can be
reevaluated in the future. SOLUTIONS BY COEXISTENCE Since, for the time being,
hurricanes are here to stay, Florida must develop better methods to coexist with
hurricanes. There is an aesthetic quality to the coastal beauty of Florida (that
is represented in economic quantities) that will keep populations growing, even
though it is a great hurricane risk. Public policies to help the coexistence are
further complicated by legal and political reasons. Many policies have failed
because of a balance of power between individual and governmental rights. For
example, ordinances to require more hurricane proof buildings fail because of
costs involved and the politics of business persuading legislature. Although
hurricane Andrew expanded public awareness to the dangers of hurricanes
(including insurance companies? awareness to not cover Florida residents),
there are still problems with public cooperation. An example of this is public
responses to evacuation orders. Earl Baker, in his essay, ?Coping With
Hurricane Evacuation Difficulties,? explains how the public can be confused on
whether there are official ?orders? to evacuate or just ?advice? to
evacuate. Even in cases where there are clear official orders, 6 to 50% of the
public might not respond. There are several ways to combat this problem. First,
the government can expand funds on hurricane prevention education. Second,
infrastructures can be improved to allow easier evacuations. Third, better
sensing equipment and tracking methods can be developed to better predict
hurricane paths and danger. SUMMARY Improving evacuation procedures and
increasing hurricane protection public policy are the only available methods
Florida residents can use to better coexist with the impacts of hurricanes.
Baker, Earl. Hurricanes and Coastal Storms. ?Coping With Hurricane Evacuation
Difficulties.? Florida Sea Grant College: 1980. NHC Hurricane Andrew. [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1992andrew.html]
NHC Hurricane Gordon. [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1994gordon.html] Pielke, Roger.
The Hurricane. Routledge: New York. 1990. Simpson, Robert. The Hurricane and Its
Impact. Louisiana State University Press: Baton Rouge. 1981. Stormfax Weather
Almanac. [http://stromfax.com] USA TODAY ONLINE. [http://www.usatoday.com/weather/askjack/]