Better Predictions for Hurricanes’ Deadly Storm Surges
As Hurricane Ivan moved over the northeastern Gulf of Mexico just before making landfall in September 2004, it passed over instruments sitting on the ocean floor belonging to a group of Naval Research Laboratory scientists. Amazingly, the moorings survived the hurricane and provided the scientists with valuable data from the ocean perspective of storm surge.
From measurements of the velocity of the ocean current directly under the hurricane, the scientists found that the energy transfer between wind and water reaches a maximum when a storm“s wind speeds reach about 72 mph (the speed around which a storm is just beginning to become a hurricane). So for speeds less than 72 mph, the higher the wind speed, the more drag it created, but above 72 mph, the waves begin to break and cause the hurricane to lose its hold on the ocean surface.
Related: Busy 2007 Atlantic Hurricane Season Predicted
I’m just sayin’.
With a little luck their forecasts will be just as poor as last year.