Tropical Revolving Storms Flashcards
What are the 3 names for TRSs, and where are the found
Hurricanes are located on the east coast of the United States
Cyclones are located in the Indian ocean, towards Sri Lanka and towards Australia
Typhoons are located in the Philippines. They move towards Japan, China and southeast Asia. They are found in the northern pacific.
Name 5 factors for it to be possible for a TRS to form
- At least 26.5 degree water
- At least 50 metres in depth to form
- They go into land areas because they need the warmer water to get larger
- They need to form over a large body of water
- The Crosswinds need to be light (low wind sheer)
Describe the structure of a TRS
Where are the 3 main areas where TRSs are found?
All in the tropics
West and East of the south of North America
The Philippines
West and East of Australia
What is the Scale which ranks Tropical Revolving Storms
The Saffir Simpson Scale ranks Tropical Revolving Storms on a scale of 1 to 5.
What is a flash flood
a flash flood is caused by a large volume of water coming with a hurricane and causing millions, sometimes billions of dollars of damage to infrastructure
What is the Coriolis force?
The Coriolis force is the deflection of wind due to the spinning of the earth on its axis. Wind (the movement of air) is deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere
Describe the 8 stages of a Hurricane
Solar radiation passes through our atmosphere and when it is absorbed by water this radiation is turned into heat which warms the ocean. 1
Between the Tropics solar radiation is very high and consistent due to the concentration of sun’s rays. This heats up the water and, by the end of the summer season, the temperature of the oceans in this region can be in excess of the 26.5deg for TRS formation. 2
The heat of the ocean warms the air above it, causing air to rapidly rise and for high levels of evaporation to occur. 3
As air rises it creates an area of low pressure at the surface, this draws in air from surrounding areas which have slightly higher pressure, because air always moves from high to low pressure. The faster the air rises, the faster more air sucked in, creating stronger winds.4
As the warm, moist air rises it cools, causing the water vapour to condense. As there is so much moisture and the air rises so rapidly it forms towering cumulonimbus clouds. 5
As all this warm, moist air rises, it is deflected due to the Coriolis effect, causing the air to spiral upwards and eventually causing the whole storm system to spiral around a central point, the eye. 6
The whole storm slowly migrates across oceans towards land.7
As tropical storms pass over land the lose their source of energy, and they die out.8
What 4 months in America have the most hurricanes?
July, August, September and October
What kind of weather does high pressure bring?
Hot and sunny weather - air moves downwards which means there is little cloud cover
What kind of weather does low pressure bring?
clouds and rain - hot air rises from the surface of the earth, often forming clouds and rain
Why does pressure decrease most rapidly as we near the centre?
Because here the most warm air is rising off of the ocean, so it creates an area of extremely low pressure
