Hurricanes: The Greatest Storms On Earth - Essay Example

In Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Australia, they are known as cyclones, and finally, in the Philippines, they are known as baguios. Hurricanes form over tropical waters (between 8 and 20 latitude) in areas of high humidity, light winds, and warm sea surface temperatures (typically 26.5C [80F] or greater). These conditions usually prevail in the summer and early fall months of the tropical North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans and for this reason, hurricane "season" in the northern hemisphere runs from June through November.

The first sign of hurricane development is the appearance of a cluster of thunderstorms over the tropical oceans, called a tropical disturbance. Tropical disturbances most commonly form in one of three different ways, 3) The last mechanism is the easterly wave, a tropical disturbance that travels from east to west in the region of the tropical easterlies. Converging winds on the east side of the easterly wave trigger the development of thunderstorms. In fact, most Atlantic hurricanes can be traced to easterly waves that form over Western Africa.

Structurally, a tropical cyclone is a large, rotating system of clouds, wind and thunderstorms. Its primary energy source is the release of the heat of condensation from water vapor condensing at high altitudes, the heat ultimately derived from the sun. Therefore, a tropical cyclone can be thought of as a giant vertical heat engine supported by mechanics driven by physical forces such as the rotation and gravity of the Earth. Continued condensation leads to higher winds, continued evaporation, and continued condensation, feeding back into itself.

This gives rise to factors that give the system enough energy to be self-sufficient and cause a positive feedback loop where it can draw more energy as long as the source of heat, warm water, remains. Factors such as a continued lack of equilibrium in air mass distribution would also give supporting energy to the cyclone. The orbital revolution of the Earth causes the system to spin, an effect known as the Coriolis force, giving it a cyclone characteristic and affecting the trajectory of the storm.

At the surface, the air spirals inward in a counterclockwise (cyclonic) circulation. The circulation becomes weaker with height, eventually turning into clockwise (anti-cyclonic) outflow near the top of the storm. This effect is called Coriolis effectCondensation as a driving force is what primarily distinguishes tropical cyclones from other meteorological phenomena, and because this is strongest in a tropical climate, this defines the initial domain of the tropical cyclone. In order to continue to drive its heat engine, a tropical cyclone must remain over warm water, which provides the atmospheric moisture needed.

The evaporation of this moisture is accelerated by the high winds