NASA's Terra satellite showed Tropical Cyclone Vayu still lingering near the northwestern coast of India, and its cloud-filled eye remained offshore.
Environment
Jun 14, 2019
0
22
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the Northern Indian Ocean and took the temperature of Tropical Cyclone Vayu as it moved northward in the Arabian Sea. NASA found the storm intensifying/ Warnings are now in effect for India's ...
Environment
Jun 11, 2019
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12
The Indian Ocean has made its mark on the global news cycle this year. In March, tropical cyclone Idai made headlines as one of the most severe storms to have made landfall in Mozambique. Current estimates indicate that more ...
Earth Sciences
May 15, 2019
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5
Australia's world-famous Great Barrier Reef is located in the Coral Sea, east of Queensland and on May 14, Tropical Cyclone Ann was moving over it. From their orbit in space, NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites passed over the ...
Environment
May 14, 2019
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9
NASA's Aqua satellite saw Tropical Cyclone Lorna was being torn apart by strong northwesterly wind shear in the Southern Indian Ocean.
Environment
Apr 29, 2019
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26
As Tropical Storm Lorna continued moving in a southerly direction in the Southeastern Indian Ocean, NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead and provided forecasters with a look at the storm.
Environment
Apr 26, 2019
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4
The back-to-back cyclones that have ravaged Mozambique are unprecedented in recorded history, the UN said Friday, as it planned to examine the country's defences against extreme weather in the light of climate change.
Environment
Apr 26, 2019
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2201
Visible satellite imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite revealed the recently formed Tropical Storm Lorna was getting organized in the Southeastern Indian Ocean.
Environment
Apr 24, 2019
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35
Visible satellite imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite revealed the formation of Tropical Storm Kenneth in the Southern Indian Ocean. Kenneth formed north of Madagascar and east of the Aldabra Atoll.
Environment
Apr 23, 2019
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76
High up in the hills above Hong Kong, Yip Ki-hok uses nothing but his bare hands to remove a honey-filled nest of swarming bees—a remarkable skill he learned after the hardship of China's famine years.
Ecology
Apr 14, 2019
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257
A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones feed on heat released when moist air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor contained in the moist air. They are fueled by a different heat mechanism than other cyclonic windstorms such as nor'easters, European windstorms, and polar lows, leading to their classification as "warm core" storm systems. Tropical cyclones originate in the doldrums near the equator, about 10° away from it.
The term "tropical" refers to both the geographic origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively in tropical regions of the globe, and their formation in maritime tropical air masses. The term "cyclone" refers to such storms' cyclonic nature, with counterclockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone.
While tropical cyclones can produce extremely powerful winds and torrential rain, they are also able to produce high waves and damaging storm surge as well as spawning tornadoes. They develop over large bodies of warm water, and lose their strength if they move over land. This is why coastal regions can receive significant damage from a tropical cyclone, while inland regions are relatively safe from receiving strong winds. Heavy rains, however, can produce significant flooding inland, and storm surges can produce extensive coastal flooding up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the coastline. Although their effects on human populations can be devastating, tropical cyclones can also relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat and energy away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes, which makes them an important part of the global atmospheric circulation mechanism. As a result, tropical cyclones help to maintain equilibrium in the Earth's troposphere, and to maintain a relatively stable and warm temperature worldwide.
Many tropical cyclones develop when the atmospheric conditions around a weak disturbance in the atmosphere are favorable. The background environment is modulated by climatological cycles and patterns such as the Madden-Julian oscillation, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Mode. Others form when other types of cyclones acquire tropical characteristics. Tropical systems are then moved by steering winds in the troposphere; if the conditions remain favorable, the tropical disturbance intensifies, and can even develop an eye. On the other end of the spectrum, if the conditions around the system deteriorate or the tropical cyclone makes landfall, the system weakens and eventually dissipates. It is not possible to artificially induce the dissipation of these systems with current technology.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
