Table of Contents
Abstract
The hurricane Sandy was a strong storm that occurred in the end of October 2012 and caused a lot of damages to the United States of America. This paper reveals the main weather factors that contributed to the hurricane and made it so strong and powerful. The work explains the basic idea of the formation of the storms. It explains the role of the climate change and its relation to the hurricane Sandy. This essay also tells about the role of the full moon and its significance in the formation of this natural disaster.
Weather of Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane is a name for tropical cyclone, mainly prevalent in North and South America. Hurricanes are formed as cyclones in the inter-tropical zone of the oceans, where the water temperature exceeds 26 degrees Celsius. Hurricane causes sudden disruption of weather and occurs when warm and moist air comes in contact with the sea. Under this circumstance, the water begins to rise. It condenses and releases heat while reaching great heights. It forces to rise and condense other masses of hot air thus causing a kind of chain reaction. Meanwhile, the flow of air will rotate in a counter-clockwise rotation of the Earth, carrying clouds. When the wind speed reaches 130 kilometers per hour, it becomes a hurricane. Hurricane "Sandy" was a powerful cyclone formed in late October 2012. After its formation, it turned to the tropical storm. Then he began to move slowly to the north, continuing to gain momentum. It caused the most severe damage to the north-eastern part of the United States, particularly to New Jersey and New York. There were several weather factors that made this hurricane so severe.
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There is no clear evidence that tells us about the cause of the hurricane Sandy. However, there is a theory that the climate change could cause so severe natural disaster. There is no definite stance on this position, but many scientists believe that climate change makes the contribution to the final power of the storm. The hurricane Sandy obtained its power due to the fact that it went north along the coast of the U.S. In this area, the temperature of the water in the ocean is still warm during this period of time. However, it became even much bigger, when a cold Jet Stream came from south of the Canada to the eastern part of the U.S. Moreover, the cold air opposed the warm air from Atlantic. It added the energy to Sandy, when it went into that area. The state of these events led to the expansion of the hurricane in its power and size.
There is a theory that needs a complex approach in order to determine the relation between the power of Sandy and the climate change. There is a possibility that a climate change made the hurricane Sandy stronger. The role of climate change in the creation of this situation is that the state of the atmospheric pressure led to the creation of the pressure center over the northern Atlantic Ocean. It could be negative or positive. The point is that, before the hurricane Sandy, negative atmospheric pressure lasted for two weeks. “Recent research by Charles Green at Cornell University and other climate scientists has shown that as more Arctic sea ice melts in the summer – because of global warming – the state of the atmospheric pressure is more likely to be negative during the autumn and winter” (Fischetti, 2012). The negative atmospheric pressure could lead to the severe storm event that would fall on the coasts of Canada and the U.S. The climate change makes a significant contribution to the process of the storm formation and increases the other main factors that start the big storms. The example is the heating of the ocean that provides an extra energy for the storms. The heating of the Earth’s atmosphere saves more moisture, which is put in the storms and then it all is sent on us. The severe hot weather of the recent years is caused by the climate change and creates the extreme weather conditions on the globe.
There are other factors that came together and made the hurricane Sandy so powerful. One of them is caused by the human activity. The waves of the hurricane were particularly strong due to the rise of the sea level that is increasing over the last years. This phenomenon, in turn, is associated with anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We should keep in mind, despite the reasons that caused the hurricane Sandy, the sea levels are rising faster, the risks of climate change are accumulated, and the political system is idling. Sandy has become a rare hybrid of a strong hurricane with a winter storm, which is more characteristic for the temperate latitudes. The warm atmosphere can contain more water vapor. It means that it has more energy. Under the conditions of global warming, such storms can become stronger, but there is no definite study about this.
There was also the extra factor like gravitation effect to make the storm Sandy bigger. “In an unfortunate, timely list, even the full moon is helping to stir up the Halloween super storm, making a bad situation even worse, especially for the New York City area” (Drye, 2012). The total contribution of the full moon was about one foot. On the one hand, it is not too much. On the other hand, it could turn the tropical storm to the devastating natural disaster. When the moon is full, the sun, Earth and the moon form the line and make the gravitation effect on the planet more intense. The sun and the moon make the joint effect on the surface of the planet. It causes the effect that makes the tides higher at this time of the month.
Hence, the hurricane Sandy reached its maximum capacity when it came closer to the U.S. coast line and turned into the super storm with strong wind gusts. On October 30, the hurricane connected with cold storm wind from the west of the country and significantly increased. It was also increased due to the full moon that contributed to the formation of the high tide. Weather experts and scientists cannot agree with the main reason that made the hurricane Sandy so strong. However, many believe that the climate change is the factor that made the significant impact on the formation of so powerful natural disaster in the end of October.