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Hurricane's Eye Reveals a New Power Source
Taking a closer look at the seemingly calm center of a hurricane, NASA researchers have been able to determine a few clues about what powers a hurricane. "Using computer simulations and observations of 1998's Hurricane Bonnie in southern North Carolina, scientists were able to get a detailed view of pockets of swirling, warm humid air moving from the eye of the storm to the ring of strong thunderstorms in the eyewall that contributed to the intensification of the hurricane. The findings suggest that the flow of air parcels between the eye and eye wall — largely believed trivial in the past — is a key element in hurricane intensity and that there's more to consider than just the classic 'in-up-and-out' flow pattern. The classic pattern says as air parcels flow 'in' to the hurricane's circulation, they rise 'up,' form precipitating clouds and transport warm air to the upper atmosphere before moving 'out' into surrounding environmental air."
Maybe they could have referenced the Eye of Sauron to make the title a little more misleading.
The angry fist of God. Repent or you shall be smoten.
I thought we already knew that hurricanes happen because George Bush doesn't care about black people.
NASA was able to detect the hot air pockets in the center of a hurricane using a clever indirect method. They dispatched two solar-powered rovers with B&W cameras to the center of hurricane Bonnie.
Since the rovers carried no atmospheric equipment, they used the haze apparent in B&W stills to estimate the moisture density of the air, and obtained a temperature estimate using an IR camera.
Of course, the major aim of the Bonnie mission was to search for life within the hurricane, so the rovers were equipped with a rock abrasion tool (RAT), an alpha particle detector, an extremely accurate iron detector, and some magnets.
Read about the Hurricane Exploration Rover Mission
I understand that predicting hurricane strength and path is important for evacuations and hurricane preparations, but how about some research on disrupting hurricanes?
Hahahah. Man controlling the weather. That's priceless. There is no way humans could ever have any effect on such a large and complex system.
Hurricanes are not the only big power source around climate events. With the power of lightning you can get nothing less than 1.2 Gigawatts, just enough to power up a time machine built inside a DeLorean. And thunderstorms is far more frequent than hurricanes.
All we have to do is have chuck norris roundhouse the hurricane!!!
As I learned from watching the Sci-Fi channel, the solution will invariably involve detonating a nuclear weapon.
win/win ;)
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?