Flashcards
Meteorological Hazards
Cards in this deck (27)
- 1What is a meteorological hazardnatural process or phenomenon of atmospheric hydrological or oceanographic nature that may cause the loss of life or injury, social or economic disruption or environmental damage
- 2Meteorological hazards and scaleMostly affect the regional and local scale. The effects of the economy could be national. Some hazards are seasonal- an example hurricanes which need warm water to occur. Tropical storms are very frequent but tornadoes will be very infrequent.
- 3The nature of the hazardWind can damage buildings can blow down trees which can block roads.
Water can lead to flooding as well as an increase in mudslides.
Temperature- crop failure, heat strokes
Storm surges is usually what kills people in a hurricane - 4Saffir-SimpsonA scale that classifies a hurricane by their wind speed.
5 categories in this scale:
Category 1 needs speeds of 74 mph
Category 5 needs speeds of 157 mph
It only accounts for wind but not for rain and storm surge - 5Saffir-Simpson picture
- 6Fujita scaleMeasures intensity of tornados by the amount of damage it does.
It has 6 categories
Fujita 0- is light damage
Fujita 5- is extreme damage
The problem with this scale is that it is subjective so is hard to measure sometime.
In many countries, it has been replaced by the enhanced Fujita scale which is less subjective - 7Beaufort ScaleRelates wind speed to observation on the sea or land. On a scale from 0-12
0- calm
12-hurricane force - 8What is a tropical depressionForms when a low-pressure area is accompanied by thunderstorms that produce a circular wind flow
- 9What is a depressionUnder a depression air is rising, forming an area of low pressure at the surface this rising air cools and condenses which aid cloud formation
- 10What is a tropical stormThey occur on the earth in the tropical regions near the equator. They include high wind speeds and heavy rainfall.
- 11What is a tropical cycloneA rapidly rotating storm system characterised by a low-pressure centre, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation
- 12Global energy budgetThe amount of solar radiation is different at different latitudes. So this drives atmospheric circulation.
- 13What are the process of vertical heat transferRadiation- transfer of energy between two objects through electromagnetic waves. Between land and lower atmosphere
Latent energy- the amount of energy absorbed or released when a substance changes state. Solid-->liquid-->gas is taking in energy.
Conduction- heat transfer from two objects direct contact (from hot to cold) At lower altitide the air is more dense so conduction is more effective
Convection- heat tranfer by movement of heated materials. Like the Hadley Cell( big convection) - 14What are the horizontal heat transfers?The tri celluar model and ocean currents
- 15What is the Coriolis effectDescribes the pattern of deflection taken by objects not firmly connected to the ground as they travel long distances around and above the earth. The impact of the Coriolis effect is dependant on the speed of the air. In a hurricane/cyclone, as mair masses are pulled into cyclone form all directions they are deflected and the system rotates.
- 16What is the Bernoulli effect-In a fluid the higher the velocity there is a decrease in pressure
-The faster the outside wind around the house is the lower the pressure. The static air inside the house, therefore, has a higher pressure than the fast moving air outside creating a pressure difference
Eventually the pressure difference is so high that the roof may come off. Occurs in hurricanes and cyclones - 17Formation of a tropical cyclonesThe tropical storm occurs in soruce areas. The ocean needs to be warm over 26.5 degrees for a long period. You need strong winds from high in the Troposphere to draw warm air from the earth surface. These drafts of air contain huge volumes of moisture which condenses to form cumulonimbus clouds. This condensation releases latent heat. which powers the cyclone furthur. The Corolis Force causes the rising currents of air to spiral around the centre (eye) AS it moves it is fed new heat and mositure from ocean. Once it reaches land mass it decays.
- 18Extreme weather climate changeClimate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme weather and also the severity. Over the last 10 years, 75 countries have hit all-time highs of temperature.
In 2003, there was a European heat wave that killed ten of thousands. Computer models have shown that such events are 4x as likely because of climate change. - 19What is a tornadoIs a violent wind storm characterised by narrow twisting funnel-like collum of cloud that reaches the ground from a towering cumulonimbus. The can be up to 5km in light and wind speed can reach 250 mph. Has a very narrow point of destruction of about 100 metres but its very destructive. Can pick up cars, roofs, trees. The greatest danger is the frenzy of picked up material moving around at high speeds. Most common in USA 1000 a year. Peak tornado season is MArch to mid summer
- 20How do tornados formThe presence of most and unstable air meeting colder air so there is a significant temperature gradient but their precise formation is not fully understood
- 21How is hail formedSo it forms when thunderstorm updrafts are strong enough to carry water droplets well above the freezing level. So the water freezes and become a hail tone which will then grow until it becomes too heavy for the updraft and it falls to the ground. Its speed depends on two things:
1. The position in the clouds updraft
2 The hails mass
The dangers of hails. Damages cars and property. In 2016, a hail storm in Dallas affected 1 million homes and an estimated $700 million in insurnace claims. - 22How are blizzards formedFor snow to form the temperture must be below 0 degrees on the groud as well as in the clouds. The clouds also need mositure and warm rising air must rise over cold air for a blizzards to form. For exmaple Chiacago area. The warm air has to be above the cold dome of air.
- 23How does fog formCaused by cold air passing over warm water or moist land. So it causes freezing fog. When tiny water droplets or ice crystals are suspended int he air near the earths surface (think about it as a low ine cloud) Humidity has to be near 100%.
Poor visiblity increases car accidents. Smog can cause respiratory diseases. - 24Photochemical smogIs when pollutants mixture of pollutions that are formed when nitrogen oxide and VOC's react to sunlight which creates this haze above cities
- 25USA Extreme weather events 2017-20182017 was a year of a lot of natural disasters occurred. This had a huge effect on the economy $306 billion of costs. They had Hurrican Harvey which was a Catagory 4 hurricane which hit Texas and Lousiana. It was the wettest hurricane in recent history. This resulted in flooding in Houston which is the 4th most populated city. 300,000 buildings were damaged and 107 people were killed, there were oil slippages and drinking water was contaminated. In the same year, there were two other hurricanes. There was also a wildfire in California which destroyed 1000 buildings and killed 22 people and 100,000 were evacuated. There was also a cold wave in winter which temperature reaching -36 degrees, 22 people died in the blizzard.
- 26Hazard prevention-Training and education-In Japan, one day a year they act out what to do in an event of an earthquake
-Building restrictions and land use planning- not building on floodplains. Building more buildings that can be stronger against hurricanes.
-Aid- clothes money food medicine shelter water. However, countries may become dependant on aid and need to try adn prevent the damage themselves. - 27ASK TEACHER ABOUT MODIFYING AND MITIGATING FOR HAZARDS
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- A level Geography Flashcards on Meteorological Hazards, created by William Holcroft on 04/04/2019.
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- William Holcroft · Apr 2019
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- Apr 4, 2019
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