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By: Lindsey Hazelton Summary. Right from the initial sight of Hurricane Ida, it was destined to be powerful. This is because the water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were hotter than usual, leaving the air hotter and moister as well. Hurricane Ida had perfect conditions to form, using the warm water as its foundation. This presents climate change in action. According to Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist, people are going to have to get used to these kinds of storms as the Earth continues to warm up. In the United Nation’s last climate report, it is stated that fossil fuels as well as many other human activities are what have led to more powerful hurricanes. On top of this, the Gulf of Mexico has spots where the water is three to five degrees Fahrenheit warmer than usual, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The hurricane traveled over these warmer parts which allowed it to grow bigger and bigger. As the hurricane traveled further inland, the surface temperature of the sea became hotter which also led to an increase in its size. Hurricane Idea was said to make landfall on Sunday, August 29th. On the Thursday before, Hurricane Idea was not yet named and was also only considered a tropical depression. It was upgraded to a hurricane due to the winds reaching up to 75MPH. It kept gaining power and by Saturday night was considered a category 2 hurricane. The winds had reached up to 105MPH. The storm made landfall the next day, which was predicted, bringing winds that reached up to 150MPH and seven feet of storm surge. Due to climate change, there is more of a difference between the amount of heat in the ocean and amount of moisture the atmosphere can hold. This contributes to quicker energy transfer and evaporation. This allows storms to develop quicker and makes them even more fierce. Not only that, but the amount of water that hurricanes bring will increase as climate change gets worse. The air is able to hold seven percent more moisture for each degree Celsius that it heats up. That is very dangerous in terms of the amount of precipitation hurricanes can potentially cause. With increased rainfall, flooding is more likely which is another big concern. The rising sea levels from global warming are also of concern, because with these higher levels, more water gets pushed onshore by wind during these storms. Louisiana, where Hurricane Ida made landfall, has areas where the water is 24 inches higher than it was in 1950. This hurricane is just one example of what is to come for the development and formation of other storms in the future. According to Kerry Emanuel, Ida is a step into the door of what can happen when a hurricane reaches its “full potential.” Why we should care? The devastation that hurricanes have caused in the past will only get worse in the future with rising temperatures due to climate change. Something must be done before the wreckage is too detrimental.  Photo Credit: https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/hurricane-ida-updates-08-29-21/index.html Example Article. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/08/29/how-climate-change-helped-make-hurricane-ida-one-louisianas-worst/ I found this article interesting because it displays just how damaging climate change is and will continue to be in the future if something is not done. We see climate change in many aspects of life and around the Earth, but I personally did not realize the effect it would have on the brutality of a hurricane. It struck me that with the increasing temperatures, these powerful hurricanes will become a norm. It is important to be aware that human activity is one thing that is contributing to rising temperatures so something can be changed. I also found it interesting that hurricanes gain so much power from warmer water and air. I only had basic knowledge about how hurricanes form, so this was eye-opening to read. Science in Action.
Dr. Kerry Emanuel is an Atmospheric Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Kerry Emanuel studies tropical meteorology and climate, specializing in hurricane physics. His research is focused on these things as well as how clouds, cumulus convection, water vapor and upper-ocean mixing determine climate. Another specialization of his is tropical cyclones and moist convection in the atmosphere. This connects to Hurricane Ida’s formation and development because part of his research is geared towards how climate is connected to hurricanes. With one of his focuses being on hurricane physics, that has to do with the formation and development of them, which is exactly what this blog post discusses. His research is vital to learning more about what climate change will do to the strength of hurricanes in the future. Based on the article I read, he knows these powerful hurricanes will become more frequent. However, it is not certain how bad they’ll really get.
8 Comments
courtney mcintosh
9/27/2021 10:35:09
Our current status in the rise of climate change is creating more and more powerful hurricanes. These hurricanes are leaving longstanding damages done to communities, neighborhoods and cities. I often think about what will happen to these states (ex. Louisiana) in the future and with their population. At what point does our impact on climate change create sparse or desolate cities/states because they are deemed inhabitable to disasters.
Emma Cockerill
9/27/2021 16:57:40
Climate change is eye-opening. Especially because my parents were protesting and environmentalist's warnings have been heard on deaf ears since the 1960's. With extreme climate events such as hurricanes occurring more frequently and with more magnitude, the human race has no choice but to either build defenses against climate change or to occupy a smaller surface area of the planet. It is a grim future generations before us have left but our job to make the best of it.
Jenin
9/27/2021 23:34:21
I really liked the detailed summary you provided us with, which explained the issue and its possible causes clearly. It is unfortunate that a significant part of climate change is reversible if we manage to limit the Carbon emissions and releasing of other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The atmosphere and the conditions of Hurricane Ida really encouraged the formation of it, despite the fact that some of the causes were avoidable. Sadly, many people fail to address these issues with all seriousness and without politicizing them, which consequently leads to people avoiding “political” topics and failing to acknowledge the importance of climate change. The rising of the sea levels will also continue to flood islands and harm many cities with the intensified conditions, and with the ongoing global warming. The real question is, how many human-caused natural disasters will it take for the people in charge to start taking action? Will it be too late by then? 9/30/2021 11:45:05
The effects of climate change due to rising temperatures is disturbing. More people need to realize the scary future ahead of us if we don't take climate change more seriously and do the little things. It's interesting how the increasing difference in ocean temperature and atmosphere moisture can create worse and quicker storms. However, this doesn't surprise me because it all ties back to rising climate change, and is yet another reason to raise more alarm and awareness.
Nicholas Hill
10/3/2021 21:34:36
With the rise in global temperatures, the planet is not only producing weather that is stronger and more dangerous to humans, but it has also been raising the water levels in the oceans. These rising temperatures and water levels can cause dangerous weather along the coasts as well as unusual weather patterns to areas that do not receive strong storms.
Alex Leh
10/4/2021 13:44:23
That was a thoughtful summary of an eye-opening article. I like how you pointed out how climate change warming the air increases the amount of water it can hold. Causing storms like these to become more and more violent. I feel like this is an often overlooked part of climate change. the air really is like a sponge, with warmer air translating to dramatically larger sponges.
Tori poma
10/4/2021 22:06:59
Every time I hear about a natural disaster I wonder how many more eye-opening tragedies there will have to be before people make a change. Hurricanes of this degree do not just happen. Most if not all scientists advocate how real the effects of climate change are, yet more people die and are in financial ruin each year because of insane weather conditions that could have been prevented. If we continue to go down the path we are going down we will have to get very much used to this unfortunate patterning weather despite it being so un-naturally occurring. Climate change is the same thing that made Texas freeze over months ago and corporations still aren't listening. Earth is dying and it will be too late to fix soon enough.
Mark Kaminski
10/5/2021 11:51:22
I think you did a great job summarizing how climate change and warmer temperatures adds to the severity of these storms. A problem I often see the general media talking about is how climate change cannot be tied to individual storms but overall trends. I do believe that getting the general public to understand how these storms form and what factors can cause a tropical depression to become a category 5 hurricane is important. Leave a Reply. |
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