| [00:00:00.01] | |
| [00:00:04.04] | |
| [00:00:08.11] | Music |
| [00:00:12.18] | Music |
| [00:00:16.24] | Narrator: 27 storms are Arlene to |
| [00:00:20.28] | Zeta. Lets exam what made conditions so |
| [00:00:24.32] | favorable for Atlantic storm formation in 2005. |
| [00:00:28.35] | We begin with the ocean; |
| [00:00:32.37] | these are sea surface temperatures for the 2005 |
| [00:00:36.39] | hurricane season, changing through time as the calendar advances. |
| [00:00:40.50] | Warm water powers hurricanes, orange and |
| [00:00:44.59] | yellow areas, shows zones with water warmer than 82 |
| [00:00:48.68] | degrees; the threshold favorable for hurricane development. |
| [00:00:52.76] | Music |
| [00:00:56.83] | Lets start the season again, |
| [00:01:00.89] | this time adding clouds back into the picture. |
| [00:01:04.93] | Atlantic-based hurricanes typically form between June |
| [00:01:08.97] | and November. Hurricanes often start as |
| [00:01:12.99] | atmospheric disturbances of the coast of West Africa. Once out |
| [00:01:17.01] | into the warm summer waters of the Mid-Atlantic, some ripples |
| [00:01:21.12] | begin to rotate and feeding of off warm water strengthen into |
| [00:01:25.21] | hurricanes. Hurricanes require warm water to heat |
| [00:01:29.31] | air above the ocean causing a drop in air pressure. Lower |
| [00:01:33.39] | air pressures sucks more water vapor into the storm, causing |
| [00:01:37.46] | storms to strengthen. As hurricanes pass over warm water |
| [00:01:41.52] | they leave trails of relatively cooler water so called, |
| [00:01:45.57] | cold water trails. Numbers displayed over storms |
| [00:01:49.61] | tracks indicate hurricane category changes. |
| [00:01:53.63] | Music |
| [00:01:57.65] | Music |
| [00:02:01.77] | Music |
| [00:02:05.87] | Strong shearing winds in the troposphere can disrupt this |
| [00:02:09.96] | process weakening young storms, but measurements indicate |
| [00:02:14.05] | that there was very little shearing wind activity in 2005 to |
| [00:02:18.13] | impede storm formation. Hurricanes are rare |
| [00:02:22.20] | phenomena; only about 80 or 90 appear worldwide |
| [00:02:26.25] | every year. |
| [00:02:30.30] | Music |
| [00:02:34.33] | Music |
| [00:02:38.37] | Storms |
| [00:02:42.38] | stalked the Atlantic Ocean and Easter Seaboard from June |
| [00:02:46.49] | until early winter in 2005 and the record books are |
| [00:02:50.56] | groaning under the strain of such a busy year. Consider this list of |
| [00:02:54.65] | superlatives. An average year produces roughly 10 |
| [00:02:58.71] | storms, 27 named storms formed in 2005. |
| [00:03:02.75] | An average year produces 6 hurricanes, |
| [00:03:06.79] | 15 formed in 2005. An average year |
| [00:03:10.82] | produces two major hurricanes. Seven formed in |
| [00:03:14.85] | 2005 on average one category 5 |
| [00:03:18.87] | hurricane forms every three years. In 2005 |
| [00:03:22.88] | there were three Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. |
| [00:03:26.95] | Wilma was the most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, |
| [00:03:31.02] | Katrina fourth, Rita sixth. But Katrina |
| [00:03:35.10] | was the most destructive hurricane ever to hit the United States. The |
| [00:03:39.17] | total losses from storms in 2005 include more than |
| [00:03:43.23] | 1,200 lives and potentially more than 100 |
| [00:03:47.28] | billion dollars. |
| [00:03:51.31] | Music |
| [00:03:55.34] | Music |
| [00:03:59.35] | Music |
| [00:04:03.45] | This visualization shows some of the |
| [00:04:07.56] | actual data that NASA and NOAA satellites measured this season. |
| [00:04:11.66] | Data used to predict the paths and intensities of hurricanes. |
| [00:04:15.74] | Satellite data play a vital role in helping us |
| [00:04:19.81] | understand the land, ocean, and atmosphere systems |
| [00:04:23.88] | that have such dramatic effects on our lives. |
| [00:04:27.93] | Music |
| [00:04:31.97] | |
| [00:04:36.00] | |
| [00:04:40.02] | |
| [00:04:44.03] | |
| [00:04:48.13] | |
| [00:04:52.22] | |
| [00:04:56.30] | |
| [00:05:00.38] |