Spring 2008
EXERCISE TWO
(due Monday, April 28)
HURRICANE FREQUENCY AND INTENSITY
This exercise is still under construction
This exercise involves testing a hypothesis that hurricanes in the North Atlantic have increased in number and intensity over the past 26 years, 1980 through 2007. For this you will gather data from the Unisys web site and fill in a table that I have created for you (below). Please use the data from the web site to fill in the table. For the complete record click on the button beneath the 2007-1995 list for Atlantic Hurricanes, "Best Track: 1851-2005". Then answer the following questions. (1) Which years had the most named storms? (2) Which years had the least number of named storms? Which years had the most intense (Category 4 and 5) storms? Which years had no Category 5 storms? Do you see a pattern in number and/or intensity through time? When were the strongest El Nino years? Is there a relationship between El Nino and Atlantic hurricanes? (You can google this info if you don't know.) What other ideas come to mind from this data? What do you think are the main controls on hurricane frequency and intensity? Do you think there is any connection between global warming and hurricanes in the North Atlantic? Or El Nino intensity and frequency?
Year Trop St Cat 1 Cat 2 Cat 3 Cat 4 Cat 5 Total 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 Home | Syllabus | Schedule | Study Guide | Exercises | Links!
Last updated 4/5/07