Hurricanes, Geology, Meteorology, Land Use, and Disaster' with guest scientist Dr' Klaus Jacob

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Hurricanes, Geology, Meteorology, Land Use, and
Disaster. with guest scientist Dr. Klaus Jacob

• Earth2Class Workshops for Teachers
• Originally presented 15 Oct 2005

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Hurricane Katrina

• produced unprecedented damage to American
  communities large and small.
• National, state, and local emergency response
  systems will never again function as they did
  before this storm.

http//www.nnvl.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/index.cgi?pageit
emsser109673
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Satellite and other observation systems gave
early notification of the birth of Katrina

• On 23 Aug, the first warnings were issued by
  government fore-casters. To the right is part of
  the first Public Advisory issued about the system
  that developed into Katrina.
• http//www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/mar/al122005.
  fstadv.001.shtml?

• ...TWELFTH DEPRESSION OF THE SEASON FORMS OVER
  THE BAHAMAS... ...TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS
  ISSUED... AT 5 PM EDT...2100Z...THE GOVERNMENT OF
  THE BAHAMAS HAS ISSUED A TROPICAL STORM WARNING
  FOR THE CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST BAHAMAS A
  TROPICAL STORM OR HURRICANE WATCH MAY BE REQUIRED
  FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN FLORIDA LATER TONIGHT.
  FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR
  AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND
  WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR
  LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

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Rapid Changes over the Next Days

• Tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings
  were issued for FL by the next day
• http//www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/KATRINA.sht
  ml?
• Areas affected by these alerts shifted along with
  movement of the storm

• By Saturday, many Gulf Coast locations received
  their first warnings
• AT 10 PM CDT SAT....A HURRICANE WARNING HAS BEEN
  ISSUED FOR THE NORTH CENTRAL GULF COAST FROM
  MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA EASTWARD TO THE
  ALABAMA/FLORIDA BORDER...INCLUDING THE CITY OF
  NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. A HURRICANE
  WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE
  EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT
  24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND
  PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.

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Meteorologists were able to observe the
approaching storm in great detail

• Satellite and hurricane hunter provided excellent
  information
• NWS National Hurricane Center analysts produced
  excellent discussions of how the storm was
  developing. For example http//www.nhc.noaa.gov/
  archive/2005/dis/al122005.discus.019.shtml?

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Hurricane Hunters probed the storm even during
its most intense stages
http//www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/images/ka
trina-eyewall-2-08-28-2005b.jpg
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While the storm passed quickly.

• By Tuesday afternoon, the NHC issued its final
  advisory
• TROPICAL DEPRESSION CENTER LOCATED NEAR 36.3N
  87.5W AT 30/1500Z POSITION ACCURATE WITHIN 30 NM
  PRESENT MOVEMENT TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHEAST OR 30
  DEGREES AT 18 KT ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL
  PRESSURE 985 MB MAX SUSTAINED WINDS 30 KT WITH
  GUSTS TO 40 KT. WINDS AND SEAS VARY GREATLY IN
  EACH QUADRANT. RADII IN NAUTICAL MILES ARE THE
  LARGEST RADII EXPECTED ANYWHERE IN THAT QUADRANT
• THIS IS THE LAST FORECAST/ADVISORY ISSUED BY
  THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER ON THIS SYSTEM.
  FUTURE INFORMATION ON THIS SYSTEM CAN BE FOUND IN
  PUBLIC ADVISORIES ISSUED BY THE
  HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL PREDICTION CENTER...

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the real story was just beginning!

• News stories brought the extent of devastation
  into homes worldwide
• Breakdowns in response at all levelsfrom POTUS
  down to small towns in the Deltashocked the
  country and world
• Reporting itselfincluding terminology such as
  refugeesbecame issues
• Weeks later, recovery is still only starting

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Rita produced a greater response

• The first identification of this storm came on 17
  Sephttp//www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2005/pub/al182
  005.public.001.shtml?
• Not to be caught out a second time, the federal,
  state, and local responders were rapidly
  mobilized
• NHC discussions and advisories were again
  thorough and accurate

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Nevertheless, the damage is done.

• Support programs for disaster victims rapidly
  emerged in thousands of locations
• FEMAs director was the most prominent of the
  leaders whose failure to anticipate will be
  questioned for a long time
• New Orleans and other communities will never
  again return to their pre-storm status, for
  better or worse

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Government responses

• US Geological Survey http//www.usgs.gov/katrina/
  http//www.usgs.gov/rita/
• FEMA http//www.fema.gov/press/2005/hurricane_seas
  on.shtm
• NOAAhttp//www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/hurricane_katrina
  /

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Examples of educational responses

• David Robisons Regentsearthsciencehttp//www.reg
  entsearthscience.com/katrina
• NSTAhttp//www.nsta.org/katrina
• Wikipediahttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_K
  atrina

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Examples of scientific research and public policy
responses

• Impacts of these storms will provide the basis
  for countless studies during the next few years
• Economic impactsshort- and long-termare only
  beginning to develop in areas such as employment
  rates, housing, community services, mental health
  issues, disrupted educations, etc.

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Our Challenges

• What can/should each of us do as educators to
  help our students understand what happened?
• What can/should each of us do as educators to
  help our students prepare for future events?
• What can/should each of us do as educators to
  help our students make decisions as future voters?