✅🟢Weather Hazards Flashcards

1
Q

What’s the Global distribution of tropical storms?

A

All tropical storms occur between the tropics of cancer and Capricorn (between 5° and 20° north and south of the equator)

Hurricanes – Atlantic/Pacific (America)
Typhoons – Northwest Pacific (Asia/Australia and islands above)
Cyclones – Indian Ocean (India)

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2
Q

How does a tropical storm form?

A

Solar radiation and warms the ocean to 27°
Thunderstorms developing cluster
Tradewinds converge
Warm air rises creasing low surface pressure the rising air cools and condenses into clouds and rain. there is a continuous up flow of warm wet air.
Vacuum up the surface pulls up more air creating strong winds
Coriolis force and trade winds blow in different direction causing her to spiral
once the cold air sinks the eyes formed, cold air sinks in the eyes therefore there is no cloud and it’s dry and calmer

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3
Q

How might climate change affect the distribution of tropical storms?

A

Global temperatures are expected to increase as a result of climate change. This means that more of the world’s oceans could be above 27 °C, so more places in the world may experience tropical storms.

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4
Q

How might climate change affect the frequency of tropical storms?

A

Oceans will stay at 27 °C or higher for more of the year so the number of tropical storms each year could increase.

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5
Q

How might climate change affect the intensity of tropical storms?

A

Higher temperatures - higher intensity tropical storms with higher wind speeds, meaning they could cause more damage.

Also, there is evidence that extra water vapour in the atmosphere is making storms wetter.
During the past 25 years, satellites have measured a 4 percent rise in water vapour in the air.

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6
Q

Structure and features of tropical storms

Learn diagram

A

From out to in:
Rainbands – Temperature and pressure goes down, clouds go up
Eye wall - temperature and pressure fall rapidly, thick clouds and heavy rain
Eye - temperature and pressure goes up, calmer and dryer
Eye wall - temperature and pressure fall rapidly, thick clouds and heavy rain
Rainbands – Temperature and pressure goes down, clouds go up

Up to 12 km tall/600 km wide
Water must be over 27°C

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7
Q

What are the Hazards associated with tropical storms?

A

Intense winds – Candice up to 280 km/h

Storm surges – low pressure causes sea surface to rise, wins drive sea forwards causing a surge of water up to several metres (can cause flooding and damage in coastal regions)

Torrential rain – tropical cyclones can pick up 2 billion tons of moisture per day and release it as rain, also leads to flooding

High seas – large waves of up to 15 m high caused by strong winds, hazardous to shipping

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8
Q

Primary Physical effects of tropical storms + example

A

Typhoon Haiyan:

  • massive storm surge killed thousands - social
  • storm was as big as a typhoon can get - destroys buildings
  • fastest typhoon to ever hit land - strong winds rip buildings apart
  • experienced 15ft storm surge + 100mm rain fast - took lives
  • category 5 typhoon
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9
Q

Primary Human social effects of tropical storms + example

A

Typhoon Haiyan:

  • people + children lost their lives die ti 15ft storm surge
  • 6190 people died
  • 14million people affected
  • many pregnant women were shocked into giving birth
  • 26,000 people injured
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10
Q

Primary Human economic effects of tropical storms + example

A

Typhoon Hiayan:

  • people’s homes battered + destroyed by strong winds = homelessness increase
  • 90% of tacloban destroyed
  • 1.1 million tonnes of crops destroyed
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11
Q

Primary Human environmental effects of tropical storms + example

A

Typhoon Haiyan

  • roads blocked by fallen trees
  • people’s crops + farmland destroyed, some land no longer fertile
  • tacloban airport blocked + badly damages
  • 600,000 hectares of farmland effected
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12
Q

Secondary Physical effects of tropical storms + example

A

Typhoon Haiyan:

  • debris distributed everywhere
  • widespread flooding (drowning + injured many more)
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13
Q

Secondary Human social effects of tropical storms + example

A
  • 800,000 people evacuated
  • refugees have to live in high hazard domes + couldn’t revive a lot of help
  • 4.1 million people homeless
  • areas double in population due to refugees
  • illness + disease breakout due to dirty water + lack of sanitation
  • looting
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14
Q

Secondary Human economic effects of tropical storms + example

A

Typhoon Haiyan:

  • people were stealing food + drinks from local business
  • local business destroyed
  • fishing waters contaminates as there was an oil leak
  • no / limited tourists
  • schools shut / debris covered them
  • international trade + farmers income disrupted
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15
Q

Secondary Human environmental effects of tropical storms + example

A
  • fishing had to stop
  • main airport shut for 3 days after the storm + storm surge
  • running water extremely dirty
  • very little running water
  • widespread flooding
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16
Q

Immediate responses of Typhoon Hiayan

A

800,000 people were evacuated following a televised warning by the president. Many people found refuge in a stadium in Tacloban. However, many people died when it was flooded. The government provided essential equipment and medical supplies.In order to reduce looting a curfew was introduced 2 days after the typhoon.
Survivors swimming to safety and helping others find shelter
Once the main airport was reopenedthree days later emergency aid arrived. Power was restored in some regions after a week. Within 2 weeks one million food packs and 250,000 litres of water were distributed.
Over $1.5 billion of foreign aid was pledged.Thirty-three countries and international organisations promised help, with rescue operations and an estimated US $ 88.871 million.
British airforce brought 2million pines worth of aid to those who suffered badly
People were being rescued with make-shift rafts to help those who were elderly.

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17
Q

Long term responses of Typhoon Hiayan

A

Build Back Better is the government’s response to the typhoon. Launched in 2014 its intention was to upgrade buildings that were damaged and destroyed to protect them from future disasters. They have also set up a no-build zone along the coast in Eastern Visayas, a new storm surge warning system has been developed and mangroves have been replanted to absorb future storm surges.
World food program brought in grains and food support the Un also launched a national appeal
UNICEF - Training train teachers, day care workers and education authorities to provide psychosocial support. They’ve gotten most children back to school
UNICEF - providing clean water and vaccines (vaccines mainly for younger children against polio / measles)

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18
Q

An example of an extreme weather event in the UK, what were its causes?

A

‘The Beast from the East’ in 2018 was caused by twisting direction drawing in cold air into the UK

Storm Emma also collided with ‘The Beats from the East’ worsening its effects

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19
Q

What are the Social impacts of extreme weather event in the UK?

A
  • 10 people died
  • over 3 days there were over 8000 car accidents / road collisions
  • NHS cancelled non-urgent appointments + clinics
  • people stranded on tracks overnight
  • gas / electricity supplies effected
  • schools closed for up to 3 days
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20
Q

What are the Economic impacts of extreme weather event in the UK?

A
  • Insurance costs over £10 million
  • trains/flights cancelled and delayed – money back
  • Country closed for a number of day, low/loss of profit
  • loss of edible food stock
  • gas consumption rises
  • supermarkets had a rush of customers
21
Q

What are the Physical impacts of extreme weather event in the UK?

A
  • temperature dropped to as low as -10°C + wind temp -22°C
  • winds exceeding 112km/h
    River tees froze fro the first time since 1929
  • powerful tide waves, higher then predicted
  • 19c, of snow in Dartmoor
  • 15/20cm snow drifts
  • inaccessible / closed / unsafe roads
22
Q

What are the Primary impacts of extreme weather event in the UK?

A
  • temperature = -10°C / winds -22°C
  • 15-20cm snow in 3 days
  • 10 people died
  • Cornwall v powerful waves + tides
23
Q

What are the Secondary impacts of extreme weather event in the UK?

A
  • over 8000 road collisions

- infrastructure suffered

24
Q

What is the evidence that UK weather is becoming more extreme?

A

Climate change – temperature is slowly rising, 10 of the hottest UK years in the past 20 years and 6 out of 10 of the wettest years in the past 20 years.

There’s been a flooding increase and a large storm increase

25
Q

What are ways to manage/mitigate against climate change?

A

Alternative energy production
Carbon capture
Planting trees
International agreements

26
Q

What is climate change?

A

Large scale long-term shift in where the patterns, it’s the effects of global warming on the weather

27
Q

What is mitigation?

A

Mitigation means to reduce or prevent the effects of something from happening.

Climate change mitigation means avoiding and reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to prevent the planet from warming to more extreme temperatures.

28
Q

What is alternative energy production?

A

The use of renewable + environmentally friendly energy sources over non-renewable + polluting energy sources.

Wind power
Solar power
Hydroelectric power
Nuclear power

29
Q

What’s wind power?

A

wind turbines (wind farm) use turning wind energy into electricity.

It’s renewable
The UK gets lots of wind annually

Local opposition - its noisy / impacts landscape, more expensive than fossil fuels to set up, wind levels can fluctuate

30
Q

What’s solar power?

A

conversion of sunlight to electricity.

Give off no pollution once installed, produces electricity quietly
Energy produced can be used globally
The energy captured can be used at night.

Cost a lot, solar energy only able to be generated during daylight hours, weather can effect solar power production

31
Q

What’s hydroelectric power?

A

Energy generated from the movement of water through river, lakes and dams

Once builds power stations release no CO2
Not vulnerable to price changes (like oil and gas)

Power stations rely on rainfall - vulnerable to drought
Large dams + reservoirs can have negative impacts on people and environment around them

32
Q

What’s nuclear power?

A

Radioactive materials (uranium) are obtained from mining and electricity is generated from the energy release when the atoms of these minerals are spill or joined together in nuclear reactors.

Once built they produce a small amount of CO2 - important as UK Government want to reduce CO2 to slow global warming.
Reliable + steady stream of electricity

Can be expensive to build + shut down
Safety concerns
Radioactive waste must be dealt with carefully and stored for many years before able to be released.

33
Q

What’s carbon capture?

A

Carbon catches the trap of carbon dioxide released when we burn fossil fuels.

During the production of energy the CO2 is captured in the factory and its turned into a dense liquid, it’s then pumped through pipes into porous rock layers a kilometre of more underground where it can be help by overlying layers of impermeable rock for thousands of years.

34
Q

Why’s planting trees good?

A

Practical way to mitigate climate change - afforestation

Trees absorb CO2 as it’s a reactant for photosynthesis, they then release O2. They act as a carbon sink. The more trees there are the more CO2 is released so more CO2 is being taken out of our atmosphere

35
Q

What are international agreements?

A

A set of rules / guidelines that are set by a group of countries in order to achieve a certain goal.

The Earth Summit agreement was made in 1992 and wanted to stabilise greenhouse gas levels to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.
Paris 2015 – keep global temperatures below 1.5°C, limit greenhouse gas emissions by human activity, review each country’s contribution to cutting emissions every five years, richer countries help poorer nations by providing finance to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy
UK - using more renewable energy (wind farms off the coast increase) - we are part of the EU’s climate change program

36
Q

Mitigation meaning

A

Reducing causes of something (eg climate change) occurring

37
Q

Adaptation meaning

A

Responding to a change

38
Q

What’s change in agricultural systems?

A

The risk is that food security is low + unreliable clean water + pests / illnesses

Shade trees protect the soil making sure it doesn’t get too hard and new cropping patterns are made with drought research being more common and example of this is shady trees in Gambia and they’ve adapted the crop patterns how this works is that it reduces the loss of income and crop loss.

39
Q

What’s managing water supply?

A

Water quality + quantity is decreasing for the vulnerable population.

Water conservation + recycling is used by making fake glaciers and then using canals to transport more water to vulnerable / rural population - this is in place in India

40
Q

What’s reducing the risk of rising sea levels?

A

Sea levels have risen by 20cm since 1900. The construction of 3m sea walls (in the Maldives) help combat this. This prevents costal flooding

Housing is also built on stilts so if there are heavy floods it will not effect the houses as much.

Restoration of costal mangrove forests offer protection from storm waves / surges as they trap sediment

41
Q

What happens to air that’s sinking towards the ground surface?

A

Areas of high pressure form
Winds on the ground move outwards from these areas

Eg. North Pole

42
Q

What happens to air that’s rising towards the ground surface?

A

Areas of low pressure form
Winds on the ground move towards from these areas

Eg. Equator

43
Q

Why does the wind curve?

A

Because they move from areas of high pressure to low pressure

AND

Winds on the ground are distorted by earths rotation

44
Q

What do surface winds do?

A

Transfer heat + moisture from one place to another

45
Q

What effects the pattern of pressure belts

A

Seasonal changes

The tilt and rotation of the earth causes relative changes in the position of the overhead sun. These cause the winds to move north during our dummer and south during our winter

46
Q

How does the angle of incoming solar energy influence the seasonal temperatures?

A

When the suns’ Arya’s earths surface is near the equator the incomingsolarenergy is more direct as it’s at around a 90° = concentrated

However at 60 latitude and it’s at a greater angle therefore meaning the heat from the sun is spread over a larger area so it’s usually cooler

47
Q

Explain why torrential rain is associated with the equatorial belt of low pressure

A

Warm moist trade winds meet at the equator and they have lots of energy, The trade winds converge and are forced upwards (causing low pressure on the ground) and rising air cools and condensed into clouds which produce daily rainfall

Vacuum at the surface created by the rising are, ‘more are is ‘sucked’ in

48
Q

What’s an arid climate, why’s it’s like this?

A

<20mm rain per year

Air is sinking creating high pressure at the surface are then warms as its descends and its dry clear and stable (very few clouds)

49
Q

Use the Hadley cell to explain how the global atmospheric system affects the weather and climate of the tropics

A

High temp between tropics - dark surface, suns overhead 90°, short distance = concentrated

High rainfall - heat, air rising (convection) that then cools, condenses into rain, there are also converging trade winds which add to this - this causes low pressure which means air rises as hot air rises above cool air that then condenses to make rain

No seasons - position of the tropics are facing the sun - little fluctuation in heat therefore little friction in weather patterns