Hurricane Heat Engines
By Piper & Anna 5th Period
Hurricanes: Tropical Monster Cyclones of the Ocean
2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season
Where do hurricanes occur?
How do hurricanes develop?
How are hurricanes categorized?
Hurricanes are categorized as a category one, two, three, four, or five. While five would be the largest, it doesn't mean it's any more stronger than a category three might be. Certain factors are what make hurricanes powerful, such as storm surges. Hurricanes can also be categorized for their wind speeds. Wind speeds are calculated using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
What is the Purpose?
Group Member 1: Is there evidence of a change in sea surface temperature (SST) in the data maps? Explain what the evidence of change in SST is. Describe the change between the hurricane passage and the effect on SST?
Group Member 2: Explain the effect on the temperature in your line plot after the hurricane passed? How long did it take for the SST to return to the previous temperature?
2.The previous temperature is warm. Then it dramatically drops, and after about 2 days the temp rises again because the heat is rising. When it rises again it tries to get back up to the temperature it was before but can not reach that temperature. This is because the warm water was forced down and the cold water was forced up to the surface, this is a cycle so they will be forcing back and forth so the surface temperature of the water will become warm once again but it is mixing with the cold water so it is warm but less warm that it previously was. Also, it's a different time of year during when the temperature tried to rise again it was colder in the atmosphere so the water couldn't get all the way back up to the same temperature. The season changed.
Question 1: What conclusions can you make about how hurricanes extract heat energy from the ocean?
Question 2: What other effects on SST may be occurring?
Other than hurricanes things that affect the SST is the heat in the lower atmosphere if it's 90*f degrees outside the SST will most likely be warm and if it's 2*f the SSTis going to be cold. Also, depending on what ocean it is the different climates. So if the climate is mainly warm the water will mostly be warm. If the climate is cold the SST will be cold. Another thing is other weather events such as tsunami or a thunderstorm this could stir the water up or depend on the airs temperature to conclude on the SST. One last major role is the season the area is in so if it's fall the water will be colder, in winter the water will be really cold, in spring it will get warmer, and in summer the water will be pretty warm.
Picture Bibliography:
Hurricane intro picture: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Fran