Earth Sciences Seminar Series
Fall 2022
Dr. Kerry Emanual, MIT
Friday October 7, 2022
12:30PM
Virtual: https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/meet/raf17009
Hurricanes: Past, Present and Future
The tropics are rightly thought of as having the most benign climate on our planet, the stuff that vacation dreams are made on. Mild temperatures, light breezes, plenty of sun, and the odd rain shower to keep everything green. It seems paradoxical, therefore, that these hospitable latitudes give rise to the most violent storms on earth. It is hardly surprising that the ancients consider these tempests as gods; indeed, the word “hurricane” is derived from Huracán, the Carib god of evil, who, with twisted spiral arms (just like the real thing) devastated their settlements on a whim. While today we know much more about the causes and nature of hurricanes, they continue to devastate our communities, and the damage they case has been increasing rapidly as we, all around the world, continue to migrate from inland areas toward the coasts. The confluence of our lemming-like march to the sea with rising sea levels and climate- change-induced strengthening of storms paints a concerning picture of rapidly increasing risk.
In my talk I will describe how hurricanes around the world have affected the course of civilization and how scientists gradually pieced together why hurricanes exist and behave the way they do, from the geologists who find signs of violent storms in ancient sediments, to the atmospheric scientists who fly into the storms to make measurements to reveal their physics, to the forecasters on whose lives many of us depend. And finally to the future: What does climate change portend for storms? Is a Cat 6 hurricane in our future? How will we adapt to the new normal?
For more information, contact: Christin Donnelly at christin.donnelly@uconn.edu