I wish I understood hurricanes and high-altitude winds well enough to say whether wind shear is useful for hurricane mitigation. My crude understanding suggests that it is, but I'm pretty sure I haven't convinced anyone.
On Aug 9, 5:18 pm, "Alvia Gaskill" <[email protected]> wrote: > A little more perspective on what could or should be accomplished by tropical > cyclone aka "hurricane" mitigation using wave sinks or similar methods. > Typhoon Morakot is a minimal hurricane that has caused significant death and > disruption in Taiwan and China, mostly through flooding. Reducing the winds > of a hurricane by cooling the waters in passes over doesn't necessarily wring > all the water out of the system. Even a depression with winds of 35mph can > cause significant flooding. > > Tropical storm Felicia, once a Cat 4 has been reduced to a weak tropical > storm as it trekked across more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Ocean, > weakened at first by colder waters (going from 29C to 24C) and then by wind > shear. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2009/ep08/ep082009.discus.011.shtml? > > It may still do some damage when it makes landfall in Hawaii, but nothing > like what a Cat 4 would have done as was the case with Iniki in > 1992http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Iniki. The Hawaiian Islands are > seldom hit by hurricanes due the fact they present a small target and because > of the natural protection due to colder waters and high wind shear. Thus, > they probably wouldn't benefit much from wave sink cooled waters. It remains > to be seen whether or not wave sink technology could completely eliminate > such storms before they make landfall. > > One of the concerns of the Storm Fury program was that flooding would still > occur even though the wind speeds had been reduced by the cloud seeding and > might be exacerbated. As Storm Fury turned to be more bluster than fury in > the retrospective analyses, the jury is still out on what manipulating these > weather systems would do if they can be affected by man-made schemes at all. > Wind shear, which is one of the factors along with SST that determines if a > hurricane will develop may be more significant than water temperature in the > fate of these storms. > > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090809/ap_on_re_as/as_asia_storm_15/print > > Typhoon pummels China, forcing nearly 1M to flee > By GILLIAN WONG, Associated Press Writer Gillian Wong, Associated Press > Writer 11 mins ago > > BEIJING – A typhoon pummeled China's eastern coast Sunday, toppling houses, > flooding villages and forcing nearly a million people to flee to safety. > Officials rode bicycles to distribute food to residents trapped by rising > waters. > Typhoon Morakot struck after triggering the worst flooding in Taiwan 50 > years, leaving dozens missing and feared dead and toppling a six-story hotel. > It earlier lashed the Philippines, killing at least 21 people. > > Morakot, which means "emerald" in Thai, made landfall in China's eastern > Fujian province, carrying heavy rain and winds of 74 miles (119 kilometers) > per hour, according the China Meteorological Administration. At least one > child died after a house collapsed on him in Zhejiang province. > > People stumbled with flashlights as the storm enveloped the town of Beibi in > Fujian in darkness, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Strong winds > uprooted trees or snapped them apart, while farmers tried to catch fish swept > out of fish farms by high waves. > > Village officials in Zhejiang rode bicycles to hand out drinking water and > instant noodles to residents stranded by deep floods, while rescuers tried to > reach eight sailors on a cargo ship blown onto a reef off Fujian, Xinhua > reported. > > Morakot was expected to weaken as it traveled north at about six miles (10 > kilometers) per hour, but still bring strong winds and heavy rains to > Shanghai, the meteorological administration said. > > Flood control officials in Shanghai released water stored in inland rivers to > reduce levels in preparation, Xinhua said. > > About 1 million people were evacuated from China's eastern coastal provinces > — more than 490,000 in Zhejiang and 505,000 in neighboring Fujian. > Authorities in Fujian called 48,000 boats back to harbor. > > Five houses were destroyed by heavy rain ahead of the typhoon's landfall, > burying four adults and a 4-year-old boy in debris, Xinhua said. The child > died after emergency treatment failed, it said. > > Another 300 houses collapsed and thousands of acres (hectares) of farmland > were inundated, Xinhua said. > > Dozens of domestic flights were canceled and delayed in Fujian and Zhejiang, > and bus service in Fujian's capital, Fuzhou, was suspended, it said. > > Taiwan, meanwhile, was recovering after the storm dumped more than 80 inches > (200 centimeters) of rain on some southern counties Friday and Saturday, the > worst flooding to hit the area in half a century, the Central Weather Bureau > reported. > > Taiwan's Disaster Relief Center said a woman was killed when her vehicle > plunged into a ditch in Kaohsiung county in heavy rain Friday, and two men > drowned in Pingtung and Tainan. It said 31 were missing and feared dead. > > Morakot hit Taiwan late Friday and crossed the island Saturday. The Disaster > Relief Center reported Sunday that flash floods washed away a home in > southern Kaohsiung, leaving 16 people missing. Three were swept away in > southeastern Taitung county, including two policemen helping to evacuate > villagers. > > Twelve others were missing, including three fishermen from a capsized boat > and three others whose cars fell into a rain-swollen river, it said. > > In southern Pingtung county, 4,000 people were stranded in inundated villages > waiting for police boats to rescue them, news media reported. > > In Taitung county, a six-story hotel collapsed and plunged into a river after > floodwaters eroded its base, but all 300 people inside were evacuated and > uninjured, officials said. > > In the northern Philippines, the typhoon and lingering monsoon rains left 21 > people dead and seven others missing in landslides and floodwaters, including > three European tourists who were swept away Thursday, the National Disaster > Coordinating Council said Sunday. > > The bodies of the Belgian and two French citizens were found Friday, the > council said. > > Meanwhile, Xinhua said three fishermen died and 26 others were missing from > Tropical Storm Goni, which hit Guangdong on Wednesday but weakened into a > tropical depression by Sunday. Helicopters and ships were searching for the > missing crew. > > ___ > > Associated Press writers Annie Huang in Taipei and Jim Gomez in Manila > contributed to this report. > > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090809/ap_on_re_us/tropical_weather > > Felicia weakens to tropical storm near Hawaii > 2 hrs 9 mins ago > > HONOLULU – Hawaii braced for Tropical Storm Felicia on Sunday, taking no > chances even though the storm weakened rapidly as it slipped toward the > islands. > The Central Pacific Hurricane Center said Sunday morning the storm had been > downgraded to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 55 mph with > higher gusts. It's expected to weaken even more before hitting Hawaii late > Monday. > > The Hurricane Center said the storm had a center about 555 miles east of Hilo > and 735 miles east of Honolulu at 8 a.m. local time. > > Parts of Hawaii were under a tropical storm watch. Several beach parks on > Hawaii's Big Island were being closed Sunday afternoon because the storm was > expected to increase wave heights. A building swell generated by the storm > was expected to hit eastern shores of the eastern Hawaiian islands later > Sunday, according to the Hurricane Center. Large surf is expected to spread > to eastern shores of all islands Sunday night and Monday. > > Felicia peaked Thursday as a Category 4 storm with winds topping 140 mph. > > Residents stocked up on emergency items Saturday, crowding stores to buy > water, batteries and other supplies. Propane was selling so quickly at The > City Mill store in Oahu that the store's tank was being filled daily, > according to KITV. > > "Things are just flying out," said Vicki Lebowitz, manager of the store. > > Retired school teacher Elsie Uechi was shopping for lanterns, water and > canned meat. > > "But I hope it passes, like always," Uechi told KITV. "Maybe we will be lucky > again this time." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
