Some of the year 12 Students will be improving the breadth and depth of their reading in coming months. Some of them will also be sharing their reviews of it to try and help other Geographers engage with interesting material. Jack's review of a National Geographic article on potentially negative effects of global warming is below:
Review of ‘8 Summer Miseries Made
Worse by Global Warming’ - Jack.L
As you would expect from the title, this article published
on the National Geographic website explains the worsening of many of the bad
parts of summer ranging from decreasing air quality to the increased danger to
swimming in rivers.
The author Brian Howard goes into detail about the following
eight topics; heat waves, bad air, biting insects, poison ivy, hay fever,
food-borne illnesses, dangerous swimming and the risk to national parks and
landmarks. Howard goes into basic details about each of the items stated about
how they would be made worse in the future due to the global warming. For
example he states that global temperatures are likely to increase by up to 5°C
by 2100, if emissions are not reduced. Also that increased temperatures will
lead to increased ground-level ozone pollution; which will lead to increased
respiratory diseases, such as asthma and currently 27 million people in the US
suffer from asthma.
All in all, I found Brian Howard’s article interesting and
would recommend it to anyone that is interested in the effects of global
warming.
A key theme for the year 13 climatic hazards course is how people can manage hazards. In terms of climatic hazards, prediction is key in enabling people to mitigate the potential effects of storms. The BBC video of how last October's storms were predicted gives an excellent look at how this happened and shows the development in the technology over the last 30 years.
We are in the midst of a heatwave and though its the school holidays, it makes for a great case study for A2...
You can see a Q and A transcript from the BBC weather team here.
Try the BBC Heatwave Quiz here. (Can you beat Mr Gracie who got 5/7?)
Wednesday 17th saw temperatures rise up to 32.2 degrees in places which moved the UK up to a level 3 warning. Ths video gives an overview of this weather.
What are the Causes of it?
The Causes and why warnings are issued are explained HERE. It is a result of a blocking anticyclone
There has been a huge tornado in Oklahoma, part of a series of large twisters this month. Though relative to a tropical storm the area covered is more narrow, the damage from the hazard of strong winds is very severe with winds thought to have reached 200mph. At least 2 people died and 21 were injured on Sunday. The storm has been classified as EF-4 on the enhanced fujita scale. You can see how tornadoes form and 2 storify versions of the event below:
Cyclone Mahasen is beginning to make landfall in the Bay of Bengal today...
A useful study for A level students is below:
Causes
A quick reminder of Hurricane formation is here. The shallow coastal shelf and warm seas in the Bay of bengal will channel Cyclones and magnify their strength as they approach land.
The path of the storm and its storm surge can be seen below:
Hazards
Tropical storms bring the fourfold hazard of strong winds, heavy rain, storm surges and large waves.As it goes these are not as severe as they could be since it satarted to make landfall at low tide and the winds have only been clocked at 60mph thus far. It has been reported as not being severe in twerms of these primary hazards but Bangladesh's low lying and flat terrain still make it susceptible to the secondary hazard of flooding from storm surges and the heavy rain may induce a secondary hazard - landslides.
Effects
Thus far, 2 people have been reported dead in Bangladesh and up to 50 Rohingya muslims being evacuated may have drowned as an evacuation boat capsized.
Dozens of houses collapsed in Patuakhali district as it inundated the land with waist deep water.
Though ti did not make landfall in Sri lanka, the heavy rain triggered mudslides and floods which killed 7 people.
Responses
Bangladeshi authorities have given out a warning level of 7 out of 10 for the incoming storm in the low lying areas around Chittagong and Cox's bazaar; a good example of identifying areas most at risk and focussing strategies to mitigate for hazard risk.
The main response has been the evacuation of large numbers of people from areas at risk. At least 956,372 people have been evacuated in Bangladesh to more than 3200 storm shelters. All schools and colleges and some hotels have been declared cyclone shelters. In Burma more than 160,00 people have been evacuated.
Bangladesh has also shut airports in the areas at risk.
Magnifying the Hazard
The presence of tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims displaced by internal conflict last year in temporary refugee camps in Rakhine state has increased the overall risk from this storm.
Scale
In terms of the strength of the primary hazards it is not as large as it could be, but the scale in terms of area covered is still large - affecting 3 countries and millions of people. By contrast the Tornadoes in Granby in Texas (link here) have kileld at least 6 as a result of much more forceful wind but have affected a much smaller area of land, thus decreasing the overall risk of the hazard.
The recent bad weather can make an excellent case study for the climatic hazards section of the OCR A2 Global issues Paper:
The syllabus looks for:
"The study of high and low pressure systems and air masses to illustrate the formation of hazards, ie heavy snowfall and frost, and how they represent hazards to people through blizzards and cold spells. They then look for the impacts associated with these weather features for named areas at the local, regional and global scale, including impacts on: – transport; – agriculture and forestry; – health; – economic activity. "
So lets take a look...
Causes:
The Jetstream has fixed in a position south of the UK drawing in colder air masses from the North. Explanation Here. A blocking anticyclone is sitting to the North of the UK which is drawing in predominantly North Easterly air masses due to its clockwise rotation. This has brought the cold and its blocking nature is the reason why the original cold weather has become a Cold Spell.Video The reason it snowed a lot at first was down to warm moist air from our regular prevailing South Westerly winds meeting cold air masses. This forced the warmer air to rise but also cool and condense. The extreme cold means that it fell as snow rather than rain. ie Heavy Snowfall. This has very much been a national scale hazard with most parts of the UK experiencing both heavy snow and the cold spell. The scale is caused by the movement of the jetstream which draws weather down from the North for the whole of the UK and also affected parts of Western Europe. The area covered by the anticyclone is large but the winds rotating around it can easily cover an area the size of the UK.
Impacts:
Transport:
A school group from Calder High school in Arran were trapped at a fieldtrip centre in Yorkshire since driving conditions became too treacherous.
Extreme rural areas have been cut off for a number of days in the Peak District, Cumbria and Wales. Link.
In South West Scotland, drivers on the A75 in Dumfries and Galloway were trapped overnight in their cars.
Road, rail, ferries and flights were all disrupted in Northern Ireland.
All flights at Humberside airport were briefly stopped.
Agriculture:
The conditions came in at lambing season threatening the lives of sheep stuck in drifts and therefore nthe livelihoods of pastoral farmers. This has especially been true in rural parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21936592
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21936873
Health
A small number of people were killed as a result of exposure by getting trapped in poor conditions int he snow. Some of these were as a result of taking part in riskier activities such as hillwalking in the Scottish Highlands.
One example can be seen here
Economic Activity
Many sporting fixtures were lost which bring revenue in at both a local and regionals cale depending on their significance. The transport disruption meant many people lost working days.
The first section of this paper will also look for
Management Regional Scale
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21921896
Teams of engineers have been dispatched to areas of Arran without power. This has taken longer in rural communities. This could be appropriate because of Government assistance in emergency funding and the UK having a well trained workforce in this area.
National Scale
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-21917589
Multiple agencies in Northern Ireland have coordinated rescue efforts together. This is possible due to mixtures of public and private funding. High levels of training and effective communication and transport infrastructure.
At a smaller scale, farmers on the Isle of man have coordinated at the community level to assist in rescuing liovestock and to find extra shelter and food from other farmers and locals for them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21945465
In the UK, a number of key agencies transmit important safety information widely via the internet and social media sites such as twitter. the include the BBC, the Met Office, The Environment Agency and National Rail. This allows people to maximise the time they have to prepare for a hazard or plan their personal responses to it, such as travel routes.
Specially trained rescue teams resued drivers stuck on roads. Link
The issue of desertification is one of the prime issues of our present and our future. Alan Savory gives an excellent TED Talk below analysing what he sees as the only viable solution.
Questions to Consider:
How big an issue is Desertification?
Could there be other solutions?
Is it too late to solve this problem?
It started out as a tropical storm in the pacific last weekend (video) and has become more organised into a tropical cyclone, potentially category 4.
It was upgraded to a category four storm early on Wednesday, one notch short of the top category.
At its centre, it had intensified to a strength of 230km/h (143mph), with satellite data indicating the eye of the storm was 20 nautical miles wide, Australian media reported.
600mm of rain is being forecast in a 24 hour period. Given that the UK averages somewhere around the 900mm mark per year, that is a significant amount.
Some of Rusty's other terrifying statistics
Winds of at least 230km/h
Cloud temperatures colder than -52C surrounding the eye of the storm
Recorded rainfall of over 138 millimetres per hour near Rusty's western side
Thunderstorms in Rusty's eye reported to have reaching heights of over 12km (7 miles)
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has predicted the storm's likely path and has issued warnings for the various hazards that it may bring. See them HERE
You can See BBC Video of residents preparing as storm makes its initial landfall HERE
The Pilbara region, close to where Rusty has hit, is the world's largest source of Iron Ore. Residents in the area have also prepared to be locked indoors for a few days as they prepare for the storm to pass over. Video
The slow movement of the storm is a concern as it may amplify the flooding and storm surge hazards it will bring. Web Article The residents should be fairly well prepared since the area has experienced gale-force winds from 49 cyclones, seven of which caused destructive gusts in excess of 170 km/h [106 mph]. Cyclone Joan produced the strongest gusts ever recorded at Port Hedland -208 km/h [130 mph] in 1975. The most destructive tropical cyclone to strike the area since Joan in 1975 was George, which delivered wind gusts estimated to have reached around 200 km/h [125 mph] in March 2007. In the Port Hedland area most residential and commercial structures performed well, and structural damage was sustained by fewer than 2 percent of buildings, most of which proved to have weaknesses due to poor maintenance.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services warned there was a possible threat to lives and homes in Marble Bar, Nullagine and De Grey Station because of rising rivers and streams.
Residents near the Yule and Turner river catchments near Port Hedland were also preparing for flooding.
The bureau’s Neil Bennett said a 3.5m to 4m storm surge was predicted, which could increase to 10m if Rusty crossed at high tide at midday.
“But it’s likely to cross later in the day, so it’s going to be bad but not the worst it could be,” he said.
“This is a nasty system.
“It’s going to lead to issues with flooding, roads being cut, structural damage, power lines are likely to be down and add that to the water everywhere and that’s going to be a dangerous environment for people to be moving around in.”
Mr Daccache said a 4m surge would inundate the town’s west end. “We’ve got pumps ready to flush the water out as quickly as we can,” he said.
Have a scan through the Wallwisher discussion below. Matching planning and investment to the potential costs of flood events is a tricky business. What is your opinion, were the floods avoidable?
If nothing else, the video links are worth a follow up:
Year 13 pupils did an overnight investigation into why we have had such cold weather in January. A summary by T.Walker of the causes and some useful effects are included below.
(Click the image to enlarge)
The video below from Canada's CBC network gives an excellent introduction to the Kyoto protocol and how Canada and other countries have followed it up. The article it is taken from is a must read to add facts and figures to the picture presented by the video.
There are forecasts that the depression below could be bringing nearly 2 inches of rain to the UK this weekend. Be prepared that there may be flooding in different parts of the UK as there was in Wales last weekend.
The environment agency have an excellent flood warning system set up:
