The Impact Of Hurricanes On The Physical and Human Environment

The Impact Of Hurricanes On The Physical and Human Environment

A tropical cyclone is a low-pressure system that forms in the tropics.

Hurricane is the name given to fully developed tropical cyclones that

are found in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and the

North Pacific Ocean east of the International Date Line.

When local residents of an area refer to a hurricane, they are

speaking of the violent, stormy weather system that brings torrential

rains and destructive, high velocity winds of over 74 miles per hour.

Hurricanes are also characterised by a heavy cloud cover, which

reduces sunshine and makes visibility and temperatures very low. In

other parts of the world, tropical cyclones are given other names. For

example, in Australia they are known as Willy Willies, in India there

are known as Tropical Cyclones and in the Pacific they are known as

Typhoons.

Hurricanes can only form in tropical regions due to their need for

certain atmospheric and weather conditions only found there. Most

hurricanes originate on the west coast of Africa, in the form of

thunderstorms. As these thunderstorms move westwards over the ocean,

they become low-pressure systems; first in the form of tropical

depressions, then tropical storm and then finally hurricanes.

Hurricanes usually take a matter of days to develop from a depression

to a hurricane, but this time period can vary. For hurricane formation

to take place, warm waters of temperatures higher than 27 degrees

Celsius must be present. From these warm waters, evaporation takes

place at a high rate. Warm, moist air above the ocean surfaces rises

via convection currents. As this air rises it condenses and storm

clouds form. During condensation, energy is released in the form of

heat, known as latent heat of condensation. Latent heat of

condensation powers a hurricane. This latent heat warms air and causes

it to rise. The risen air is replaced by more warm moist air from the

ocean surfaces. This process is repeated continuously in a cycle. As

heat is transferred from the surface to the atmosphere continually, a