UK Storms Prediction (Oct 2013)

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.

Quality Y10 Tectonics Vids

Mr Strachan's Y10 class have been making videos about plate tectonics. See the examples below:

Could you do the same?

R.Sanghera


Toby

Useful Weather and Climate Videos

Below are some excellent videos from the Met Office which explain some important basics of weather and climate patterns:

How does the Earth's Climate System work?

What is the Jet Stream?





What are Weather Fronts?




What are Air Masses?

UK Heatwave - Causes, Effects and Responses

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

This video explains how long it may last and why

What makes a heatwave?

What are the effects of it?

Numbers of grass fires have increased - The London fire brigade have been tackling 21 grass fires a day compared to 5 a day last year.

Ambulance Callouts are up too

Its predicted to have claimed up to 760 lives

Negative effects may be enhanced by us being ill prepared as explained here.

Positively - the hot weather increases natural sugar levels in grapes improving the 2013 UK wine vintage

Some holiday parks have reported bookings have much improved - so the UK tourist industry has received a boost.

This outdoor pool in Leicestershire for example has seen numbers swell.

How have we responded?

There are national warnings as mentioned above, mostly given by the Met Office. An example of the NHS health warnings

There are lots of public health warnings going out to givwe advice on how to respond
This video explains who is most at risk and how to respond

Various media outlets have also given their own advice such as this BBC one.

Fox hunting adaptation

Animals and plants must adapt to survive in cold environments. Long periods of freezing temperatures and precipitation falling as snow mean that both food and water are scarce. Animals can adapt in both physical and behavioural ways. One of the best surely must be the way that the fox below hunts mice:




To see further clips of animal adaptations to the yellowstone winter, see the BBC clips site for the episode here.

(The Only) Solution to Desertification?

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?

Cyclone Rusty: Case Study

Cyclone Rusty is hitting the North west Coast of Australia today.

You can follow the storm's progress live here.

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)

Early video as the storm approached:



BBC Video of the storm's predicted path

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 West.co.au reports:

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.

Video Map of USA Severe Weather Warnings

This excellent video from the NOAA shows severe weather (blue) and tornado (red) warnings from last year. Its amazing how much of the USA is affected.

 

A level geographers in particular should note the location and pattern of tornado warnings.

Kyoto Protocol: Excellent Intro

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.

How has recent weather affected our school?

Year 12 pupils had a lesson to collect and then contribute to a map of the effects of the recent bad weather on our school community.

The video below shows the storm patterns on the 24th and 25th which began to flood the river and saturate the soil. this was compounded by further rain on the 26th, 27th and 28th and then frost on the 30th and 1st of December.



The map below should interactively show the observations. Click on a placemark to see the observations and some images. There is more to come soon as well.
There is also one placemark 11km North West of the school in Harrold referring to the bridge being blocked. The rain clouds west of the school show weather data from the last two weeks.



View Larger Map

Sustainability Explained

Another excellent video to promote discussion about sustainability. Are these the only aims of sustainability? Do they go too far? is this achievable?

Great Extension on development and Population

Hans Rosling gives a 4 minute lesson on 200 years if history for 200 countries. Shows change in life expectancy along with wealth.

Amazing video of Japanese Earthquake

The video below gives an outstanding view of the buildup in terms of groundshaking to the Japanese earthquake of 2011 and the aftershocks that followed. It is worth watching through with sound as well. As the year goes on, the regularity of earthquakes in the area is made clear, as is the location of the boundaries with relation to Japan. However as March the 10th/11th commences, there is a huge release of energy that takes some months to subside.

This is an excellent visual representation of the scale and sudden onset of the event.

Follow NOAA Expedition to Ring of Fire Live

There is an excellent site set up where you can watch a live expedition to an undersea area of the ring of fire. There is plenty of video available and maps of the area.

There is a live video feed of the expedition as well.

Click the link below to see the video:

http://trap.it/#!traps/id/e4e03aa0-beef-4216-b937-2a304adec440/jump/6ArT7ibRd0064csiZaZs

Social Good Summit - get involved

The UN Social Good Summit starts today. There are some excellent ways to follow whats going on:

1) You can follow and watch it live online here:

2) You can follow it on twitter with the hashtag: #sgsGlobal

3) We have also set up a live twitter feed on this site, just click on 'Live News' to the right of this post to watch it update:

The video below is an excellent rundown of what it is about and how you could get involved.....

Amazing systems for local disaster recovery

This is a very impressive video about 2 sisters and their response to a Tornado in their home town. As you watch, consider the following questions: would their technology be appropriate in all areas of the globe? Will there always be donations/volunteers? What enabled them and others to respond successfully?

UNDP Act Now campaign

The UNDP have a campaign on to increase preparedeness and spending on disasters to reduce their developmental effects and spending in the long run. Have a look at the video below which is part of their campaign but als o highlights the issues excellently for those in the upper sixth and year ten particularly this term.

Some summer inspiration

Two videos below that may get you thinking about development in a new way or may just provide some summer inspiration:

Excellent Video on Birth Rate and Population Change