http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. How well a family recovers from a natural catastrophe may be tied to the household's pre-disaster make up and socio-economic status. In a recent study, Dr. Michael Rendall of the RAND Corporation compared the number of households in New Orleans, LA that broke up following Hurricane Katrina to the national rate of household break-ups over an equivalent period. An estimated 1.3 million people fled the Gulf Coast during that emergency in 2005 – the largest urban evacuation America has ever seen. The results are published today in the Journal of Marriage and Family. http://phys.org/news225362794.html Other Sciences Mon, 23 May 2011 09:46:47 EST news225362794 Natural disasters and a record number of tornadoes in the southeastern United States should not have any bearing on the severity of the upcoming hurricane season, the director of the National Hurricane Center said Friday. http://phys.org/news224574182.html Space & Earth Sat, 14 May 2011 06:43:19 EST news224574182 Tropical Storm Hilda is hanging on to tropical storm force winds, and continues to track south of the Hawaiian Islands. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite noticed some moderate rainfall in Hilda's center earlier today, but the storm is staying far enough south of Hawaii to not cause trouble for travelers and vacationers. http://phys.org/news170513500.html Space & Earth Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:52:17 EST news170513500 Bill is still holding onto hurricane status near Nova Scotia, and will be bringing a lot of rain and heavy surf to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. Today, Sunday, August 23, NASA infrared satellite imagery revealed cold high thunderstorm clouds around Bill's eye, indicating there is still some powerful convection and strong thunderstorms happening in the storm. http://phys.org/news170328614.html Space & Earth Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:30:37 EST news170328614 Hurricane Bill was raining on Bermuda on Friday, August 21, 2009, and NASA satellites were providing forecasters with information about Bill's rainfall, clouds and winds. http://phys.org/news170093061.html Space & Earth Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:07:32 EST news170093061 NASA satellites continue to capture important wind speed and cloud data that forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are using to help their forecasts. QuikScat has been particularly helpful in determining the extent of hurricane and tropical storm-force winds, and they go a great distance. http://phys.org/news169998791.html Space & Earth Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:54:02 EST news169998791 (AP) -- Steve Kramer spent an hour and a half swimming in the ocean this week - in Maine. http://phys.org/news169993833.html Space & Earth Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:40:01 EST news169993833 NASA has several satellites that orbit the Earth one behind the other on the same track. They're called the "A-Train" and one of the things they study is tropical cyclones. There are also other satellites outside the A-Train that are used to study different aspects of tropical cyclones. The satellites that form the A-Train provide unique information about tropical cyclones, the collective term for tropical depressions, tropical storms, hurricanes and typhoons. http://phys.org/news169989266.html Space & Earth Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:15:42 EST news169989266 Hurricane Bill has become a powerhouse in the Atlantic Ocean and NASA satellites are providing forecasters with important information to help their forecasts. Bill is now a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale and is expected to strengthen as it nears Bermuda, and NASA's Aqua satellite captured two views of his cloud cover. http://phys.org/news169898164.html Space & Earth Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:10:06 EST news169898164 The TRMM satellite noticed a wide-eyed Hurricane Bill's rainfall is intensifying indicating he's getting stronger. Satellite images have also shown Bill's eye is widening. http://phys.org/news169819465.html Space & Earth Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:05:08 EST news169819465 Bill was the third tropical depression in the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season, behind Ana and Tropical Depression One. Over the weekend Bill grew into the first hurricane in the Atlantic this season. Two NASA Satellites captured Bill's rainfall and cloud temperatures as he was powering up. http://phys.org/news169743792.html Space & Earth Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:20:02 EST news169743792 Reconstructions of past hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean indicate that the most active hurricane period in the past was during the "Medieval Climate Anomaly" about a thousand years ago when climate conditions created a "perfect storm" of La Niña-like conditions combined with warm tropical Atlantic waters. http://phys.org/news169301657.html Space & Earth Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:15:22 EST news169301657 Tropical Storm Felicia is closing in on the Hawaiian Island chain and its center is now expected to pass just north of the big island before moving through the islands Tuesday and Wednesday. Two NASA satellites captured the height and temperatures of Felicia's clouds to assist meteorologists in their forecasts as she approaches Hawaii. She's already stirring up the surf. http://phys.org/news169136738.html Space & Earth Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:40:10 EST news169136738 NASA satellite imagery has helped forecasters see that Hurricane Felicia is running into cooler waters and increasing wind shear, two things have taken her strength "down a peg or two." Felicia will continue to weaken further over the weekend as she heads to Hawaii where landfall isn't expected until late Monday or early Tuesday. http://phys.org/news168929484.html Space & Earth Sat, 08 Aug 2009 05:51:55 EST news168929484 Felicia is the storm that rules the Eastern Pacific Ocean this week, but Enrique refuses to give up. Felicia is a major hurricane with sustained winds near 140 mph, and Enrique is still hanging onto tropical storm status with 50 mph sustained winds. Both cyclones are close to each other and NASA satellites captured them together. http://phys.org/news168791236.html Space & Earth Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:28:11 EST news168791236 Weather experts on Wednesday reduced the number of projected hurricanes in the north Atlantic this season to four, two of them major hurricanes with winds above 178 kilometers (111 miles) per hour. http://phys.org/news168624608.html Space & Earth Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:40:01 EST news168624608 Carlos became a hurricane for about 24 hours over the previous weekend, then powered down to a tropical storm and now atmospheric conditions have enabled him to power back into a hurricane in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. http://phys.org/news166786962.html Space & Earth Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:00:01 EST news166786962 US scientists on Thursday said that the El Nino warming trend of the Pacific Ocean waters has returned, bringing with it almost certain changes in weather patterns around the world. http://phys.org/news166367335.html Space & Earth Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:09:26 EST news166367335 Though New Orleans residents were told to evacuate days before the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, no one could have predicted the real extent of the devastation. http://phys.org/news166115137.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:06:09 EST news166115137 El Niño years typically result in fewer hurricanes forming in the Atlantic Ocean. But a new study suggests that the form of El Niño may be changing potentially causing not only a greater number of hurricanes than in average years, but also a greater chance of hurricanes making landfall, according to climatologists at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The study appears in the July 3, 2009, edition of the journal Science. http://phys.org/news165763631.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:20:01 EST news165763631 Hurricane Katrina was the largest natural disaster in U.S. history, claiming the lives of more than 1,800 victims and causing well over $100 billion in damage along the Gulf Coast. The 2005 storm breached every levee in New Orleans, flooding almost the entire city as well as the neighboring parishes. Yet a surprising number of people stayed behind and rode out the storm. http://phys.org/news165752100.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:30:01 EST news165752100 (PhysOrg.com) -- The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-O, soared into space today after a successful launch from Space Launch Complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. http://phys.org/news165386205.html Space & Earth Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:37:54 EST news165386205 "June is busting out all over," as the song says, and with it, U.S. residents along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts begin to gaze warily toward the ocean, aware that the hurricane season is revving up. In the decade since NASA's QuikScat satellite and its SeaWinds scatterometer launched in June 1999, the satellite has measured the wind speed and wind direction of these powerful storms, providing data that are increasingly used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Hurricane Center and other world forecasting agencies. The data help scientists detect these storms, understand their wind fields, estimate their intensity and track their movement. http://phys.org/news165244319.html Space & Earth Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:19:22 EST news165244319 As global warming whips up more powerful and frequent hurricanes and storms, the world's coral reefs face increased disruption to their ability to breed and recover from damage. http://phys.org/news164972866.html Space & Earth Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:48:30 EST news164972866 LSU's WAVCIS, or Wave-Current-Surge Information System for Coastal Louisiana, has a few new tricks up its sleeve in preparation for the 2009 hurricane season. http://phys.org/news164078139.html Space & Earth Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:16:46 EST news164078139 (PhysOrg.com) -- Summer soon begins in the Northern Hemisphere and, on June 1st, the Atlantic hurricane season kicks off. What do Atlantic and Pacific Ocean surface temperatures and heights tell forecasters about what they can expect this season? Although peak hurricane time doesn't arrive until late-summer and early fall, there are some oceanic signals that give a hint of coming activity and NASA satellites are helping to provide that data. http://phys.org/news163082600.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:44:13 EST news163082600 (AP) -- When experts sketch out nightmare hurricane scenarios, a New York strike tends to be high on the list. http://phys.org/news162995706.html Space & Earth Sun, 31 May 2009 13:35:55 EST news162995706 The first tropical depression of the north Atlantic's hurricane season formed Thursday and forecasters said it would likely reach tropical storm strength before petering out over open seas. http://phys.org/news162740828.html Space & Earth Thu, 28 May 2009 14:47:29 EST news162740828 (PhysOrg.com) -- An international panel of experts has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle, stating that Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots. Led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and sponsored by NASA, the panel includes a dozen members from nine different government and academic institutions. Their forecast sets the stage for at least another year of mostly quiet conditions before solar activity resumes in earnest. http://phys.org/news162653480.html Space & Earth Wed, 27 May 2009 14:32:07 EST news162653480 Research led by the University of Leicester suggests people today and in future generations should look to the past in order to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. http://phys.org/news162642570.html Space & Earth Wed, 27 May 2009 11:30:35 EST news162642570