Hurricane Activity

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the increased hurricane activity in the United States over the past 20 years. It discusses not only the toll on human lives that hurricanes have caused, but also the effects on the United States economy. Specifically, the paper explains how hurricanes are formed, how they are classified in intensity and some of the theories surrounding the increase in hurricane severity and intensity in the United States. It then outlines how the hurricane activity impacts on the US and global economy. The author has included several diagrams and tables to illustrates the points made.

From the Paper:

"A hurricane is a powerful, swirling storm that is created as a result of warm sea waters near the equator. As warm, moist air rises from an ocean surface that is above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, it creates a low air pressure zone beneath the hot, humid, and rising air mass. In the upper atmosphere, the humid air mass condenses and forms storm clouds that bring heavy rain. The dispersion of the warm air mass in the upper atmosphere allows more warm moist air to feed into a perpetual storm that continues as long as it has a warm ocean to feed off (see figure 1). Boyles Law states that gases move from a high pressure area to a low pressure area, so does the air mass of a forming hurricane. The difference in the air pressures causes wind. The rotation of the earth causes the forming storm mass to rotate counter-clockwise in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere. The rotational phenomena is called the "Coriolis Effect" (Barnes). This low pressure rotation is necessary for a hurricane to form and is a reason why hurricanes must be more than 5 degrees from the equator (Barnes). A hurricane follows a seasonal pattern in the Atlantic and the season most often starts in June and ends in October (Dunn 34)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "20 to 30 More Years of Hurricane Disasters." Florida Gardener.com. 29 Dec. 2007. 22 Apr.2008 <http://www.floridagardener.com/monthly/hurricanes.htm>.
• Barnes, Gary, ed. "World Book at NASA." NASA. 29 Nov. 2007. 20 Apr. 2008 <http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/hurricane_worldbook.html>.
• Bengtson, Lenard, and James Lighthill. Intense Atmospheric Vortices. New York: Springer-Verleg, 1982. 71-73.
• Bovino, Beth A. "Hurricanes Impact National Economy." Washingtonpost.Com. 29 Sept. 2005. 21 Apr. 2008 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/09/28/DI2005092801431.html>.
• "Consumer Confidence Plunges." Econbrowser. 25 Sept. 2005. 22 Apr. 2008 <http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2005/09/consumer_confid.html>.

More papers on Hurricane Activity:

• Term Paper # 108783 : "Human Impact on Climate"
• Essay # 88307 : "Effects of Natural Disturbances on Ecology"
• Book Review # 113891 : "Disaster Apartheid"

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