Hurricanes are a means to transfer heat from the equator to the poles. After waters off the coast of Africa are warmed to more than 81 degrees Fahrenheit, with the right combination of winds and accumulated thunderstorms, a hurricane is born. The water temperature is essential, but is the winds that play the significant role. If they are weak easterlies and strong westerlies, as produced by EI Nino, then clouds will have their tops cut off, buy if there is still air between two wind belts and a stronger easterly flow, as found in La Nina, hurricanes form more readily. This is one reason why the 1999 hurricane season has been so active. The presence of La Nina increases the chance by 75% of the United States being hit, as compared to the 25% chance with EI Nino.
When water evaporates, the moist vapor rises, then expands, then cools. It condenses into cloud droplets and then forms rain. Heat that is locked within the vapor is released, and this lowers air pressure, causing more rain and thunderstorms. The winds in these accumulating thunderstorms begin to move in the direction of the earth’s rotation and circulate in a counterclockwise motion. If this takes place in the Southern Hemisphere, it is clockwise direction. This mass of whirling storms is called a tropical cyclone. As the winds accelerate in this spiral, the storm is designated as a hurricane when they reach speed of 74m.p.h. there is a column at the center of these multiple thunderstorms. It consists of calm air and is called the “eye” of the hurricane. It is surrounded by the fiercest storms of the system.
There are other factors that affect the formation of hurricanes. In addition to the presence of EI Nina conditions in the equatorial Pacific, rainfall amounts in West Africa, the intensity of stratospheric winds, and significant changes in ocean circulation also affect how storms develop and to what degree. Therefore, predicting where hurricanes will appear is difficult. Other factors that may be a bit more esoteric are the overall effects of a natural shift in climate and whether global warming, induced by the pollutants of technology, transportation, and industrialization, will also contribute significantly. For example, global warming may make storms more severe by loading them with more rain. This would cause even more extensive flooding. If global sea levels rise, the surge effect of waves would increase, thereby causing more damage and destruction.
Even though the number of typhoons in the Pacific and hurricanes in the Atlantic may very in proportion to one another, there will be about 80 such events in any one year.
Speculation about the cause of global warming continues, and the controversy centers on whether increases in temperature are “natural” or the result of ever increasing pollution. Either way, calculations show that by the end of the next century, the earths mean temperature will likely rise between 1.3 degrees Centigrade and 4.0 degrees Centigrade (2.3degrees Fahrenheit and 7.2degrees Fahrenheit). One major consequence of this warming will be raising sea levels. The Greenhouse Effect is when increasing carbon emissions as a result of burning billions of tons of fossil fuels around the world, traps more heat and makes the global temperature rise. As the sun’s rays go through the atmosphere, it heats the earth’s surface. This heat is radiated as radiated as infrared rays, and while some of it escapes, the remainder becomes trapped by an increasing amount of carbon Dioxide, along with other greenhouse gases. According to some scientists, one of the indicators of this phenomenon is the shrinking Quelccaya ice cap located in Peru, South America. It has lost one fifth of its mass over the last tow decades. It is incontrovertible that the earths’ temperature has increased about one degree Fahrenheit over the last 12 decades, and the increasing temperature has resulted in the lessening of the ice cap. What is debatable is whether this lessening is part of some larger shift in climate or whether it has resulted from greenhouse gases. To combat the problem of greenhouse gases, several fronts are being attacked simultaneously. Research and development needs to be intensified to find renewable sources of energy, like solar and wind power. Fuel efficiency for popular vehicles, like vans, SUVs, and light trucks, needs to be improved in addition to more rigorous emission standards. Similarly, emission standards for industries that use fossil fuels for power must also be stricter. The federal government should reduce its need for and use of energy significantly in an effort to cut emissions. Lastly, both state and federal government could give tax credits and incentives for individuals and companies that use alternative sources of energy.
Unfortunately, even if all further emissions are ended immediately, greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a hundred years, and global warming will increase. According to environmentalists, however, that dies not preclude working on the problem as possible because it will be a serious dilemma for the twenty-first century.