For those who remain unconvinced about the impact of climate change on our lives, Hurricane Beryl and its unprecedented early arrival in the hurricane season (June 1 to Nov. 30) serve as yet another disastrous consequence. After hitting Grenada Island and causing “Armageddon-like” destruction, as described by Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell (with 98% of buildings either destroyed or damaged), Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are now bracing for the Category 4 hurricane scheduled to hit today.
The relationship between climate change and the intensification of hurricanes in terms of strength, destructive potential, and early arrival in the season is explained by the warming of the oceans, from which hurricanes draw their energy. For a hurricane to form, it requires wind, heat (a minimum of 80°F), and air moisture. Due to the need for warm oceans and corresponding air moisture, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons typically occur within or near the equatorial-tropical belt, between about 5 and 20 degrees of latitude.
The kinetic energy of air moving from high-pressure to low-pressure zones provides the force that pushes tropical ocean’s moist air upward in a self-sustaining, looping mechanism that continues as long as massive amounts of humid air remain available along the storm’s path. This explains why hurricanes begin to weaken as they make landfall. As massive volumes of moist air rise into higher and cooler levels of the atmosphere, they condense into large and dense cloud formations. Since the convergence of wind and moisture occurs across large tropical geographic areas, the resulting cloud masses and winds are subject to the Coriolis effect, giving them a counterclockwise rotation in the northern hemisphere and providing hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons their distinctive rotating shape. As clouds move closer to the storm’s eye’s low-pressure area, the conservation of angular momentum causes them to spin faster.
Photo courtesy of Geomodderfied.
As oceans warm, more moisture becomes available in areas of low pressure, creating more intense evaporation and condensation cycles. An average hurricane can contain 100 billion pounds of water (45 million metric tons). As air continues to move from high to low pressure, an increase in ocean water temperature provides the storm with more raw material and fuels it with greater energy and speed. A 1°F increase in ocean temperature can generate a 15-20 mph increase in hurricane speeds.
It is important to note that hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are similar weather phenomena but are named differently depending on the geographic areas in which they occur.
Unfortunately, as ocean temperatures continue to rise, we should expect weather events to continue to amplify in intensity and frequency. While human influence on climate change has been questioned by some, there is now unquestionable, proven scientific evidence that greenhouse gases contribute to increased temperatures on Earth. Climate scientist Fiona Lo has mentioned that 90% of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases has been absorbed by the world’s oceans.
Hopefully, as the global industrial community, climate scientists, and governments work hand in hand and continue to push for environmentally friendly policies and measures, humans can reduce their impact on climate and reverse a trend that we are now witnessing with its negative consequences on our lives.
