Hurricane Sandy

 Hurricane Sandy

  Superstorm Sandy also known as Hurricane Sandy or Post Tropical Cyclone Sandy was a massive storm that damaged many places. It damaged Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, DR and the Bahamas as well as U.S Mid-Atlantic Northeastern states. This happened in late October 2012.

Sandy began as a tropical wave in the warm ocean waters of the central part of the tropical North Atlantic on October 19. The system traveled west into the Caribbean sea during the next few days and was classified as a tropical depression by the NHC (National Hurricane Center) on October 22 while in the waters south of Jamaica. As it went northward, the depression grew into a tropical storm and the NHC named it Sandy.

On October 24, with sustained 80 mile (about 130 km) per hour winds, Sandy became a category 1 hurricane in the waters just south of Jamaica. After its maximum sustained winds increased to more than 90 miles (144 km) per hour during the late evening, NHC officials reclassified the storm as a category 2 hurricane. Shortly after midnight on October 25, Sandy’s winds rose to 110 miles (177 km) per hour, and by dawn the eye had passed over eastern Jamaica and eastern Cuba.

Between October 25 and October 28, Sandy continued northward but declined in intensity, and it was reclassified as a category 1 hurricane and later as a tropical storm; after passing over The Bahamas and paralleling the coastline of the southeastern United States, the storm had again grown into a category 1 hurricane. On October 29 the storm curved westward toward the Mid-Atlantic states, and by 8:00 PM it made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey, with maximum sustained winds of 80 miles (about 129 km) per hour.

Sandy's Journey:

Gabriel Fahrenheit

 Gabriel Fahrenheit was born May 24, 1686 in Danzig, Poland, and spent most his life in the Netherlands where he devoted himself to physics and manufacturing meteorology instruments. He visited other places to learn new skills on making instruments. In 1714 he came up with the mercury thermometer which at the time was a huge accomplishment. He used his invention to develop the first temperature scale precise enough to become a worldwide standard. He was the author of important improvements in the construction of thermometers, and he introduced the thermometric scale known by his name.

Godfather of the clouds- Luke Howard

     

    Luke Howard was the man who named and classified all of the clouds we know and study today.  he gave three base classifications Cumulus- for heap of clouds, they are the large fluffy ones we see a lot, Cirrus- thin wispy clouds which are often seen in clear sky's and stratus are the large sheets of clouds on days when they sky is completely white and covered in clouds. Luke lived long enough for his work become mainstream the terms we use are the same from 200 years ago given by him. 

Joplin Tornado

    The Joplin tornado was an EF5 on the Fujita scale. It tore through 6 miles and was almost a mile wide and caused a tremendous amount of damage. As you can see below:

    Since it was covered by high-precipitation cells they couldn't even tell the tornado was coming until 15 minutes before it touched the ground. Due to the late notice and the intensity of this tornado, it was extremely dangerous. So dangerous that it was named the most dangerous tornado to ever be recorded in the US. There were 161 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries making it the deadliest tornado to be ever recorded in US history. A little over 8,000 buildings in all were damaged, most were totally destroyed or destroyed beyond repair. The total damage cost was over 3 billion dollars. After the tornado was over Joplin, Missouri was devastated. They needed to rebuild after the tornado. NIST who focuses on American innovation and industrial competitiveness went to Joplin a couple days after the tornado to examine and collect data. From this, they were able to help Joplin build safer homes that would be more resistant to tornadoes along with hospitals too. They also wanted to install tornado shelters in every house and lastly, they wanted more clear nation codes and communications in emergencies like this.

Who is Mr. Tornado?

     Mr. Tornado was a famous Japanese-American meteorologist and college professor by the name of Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita. He was an expert in the field of natural disasters. From hurricanes to tornadoes to typhoons to any other natural disaster, Fujita knew it all. But, as you can tell by the title Fujita is commonly known for his groundbreaking research on tornadoes. 

    

    Before the world knew about Dr. Fujita and his expertise on tornadoes, his first big event was the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Fujita didn't think like the average meteorologist/scientist. He would account for the factors that most would regard as irrelevant and the angles that others simply didn't know about. Fujita was able to find out the strength of the atom bomb, the height at which it exploded, and several other important factors. 

    Dr. Fujita later came to America to continue his research on tornadoes and teach at the University of Chicago. Though Fujita had been an expert in tornadoes for over 30 years, he never actually saw a tornado until he was in his 60's. Just like in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Fujita paid attention to the damage done by the tornado and the debris that was left of it. He was able to find out the strength, size, and so many other aspects of the tornadoes, which led to a scale still used today called the "Fujita Scale." 

Dr. Fujita's greatest contributions to meteorology

• Fujita created a scale (pictured above) that determined the strength of a tornado, known as the "Fujita Scale" which is still used today. The scale is based on the speed of the tornado, from least to the greatest threat. F0-F5

• Fujita also saved thousands of lives with the discovery of microbursts, which were the downdraft of tornadoes. These microbursts could wreak havoc on anything in their path especially planes in the air. (Pictured above is damage done by a microburst to an airport)

What lesson can be learned from Dr. Fujita?

• Always case or assess a situation/event/problem/etc., inch by inch from all the angles. Try to account for the factors that others ignore or regard as irrelevant.

Dr./Prof. Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita 

1920-1998

The Camp Fire of 2018

 The Camp Fire of 2018 was the deadliest and expensive fire in Californian history. The fire burned over 150,00 acres in northern California during November 2018. 

The fire was started by a damaged electrical cable in Butte County in North California near Camp Creek Road. The fire spread quickly due to the drought conditions in the mountainous brush of the Sierra Nevada and the high winds of the late dry season. The fire incinerated the nearby towns like Paradise and Concow as it merged with a separate fire to grow even larger. The fire reddened the sky and lowered the air quality across Western America as well as some places in the East.

When the smoke cleared, massive amounts of property and forestry were decimated. Many cities saw significant population dips after the fire and many communities are smaller because of it. No major climate change legislation was passed under Former President Donald Trump because of the fire. President Joe Biden has created a Climate Task Force and invested in green energy to combat climate change. No major policy changes were made at the state level, either.

The Camp Fire of 2018 killed 85 people and left damage that is yet to be repaired in its wake. Sadly, fires of this magnitude seem to be just as the United Nations said, 'the new normal'.

The Mariana Trench- Environmental Science

The Mariana Trench is a deep-sea trench located on the floor of the western North Pacific Ocean. This trench is regarded as the deepest point on Earth. It is part of the western Pacific system of oceanic trenches coinciding with nearby subduction zones. 

The Mariana Trench stretches for more than 1,580 miles (2,540 km) with a mean width of 43 miles (69 km) The trench’s deepest points are reached in Challenger Deep, on the floor of the main trench southwest of Guam. Nobody has ever made it to the bottom of the trench, but the greatest depths were reached by Victor Vescovo in 2019 at 35,853 feet or 6.7 miles.

Due to the deep depths, there is very little to no sunlight in parts of The Mariana Trench and there is extreme pressure the deeper you go, life is still very much present and interesting. The trench is home to many deep-sea creatures such as the Seadevil Anglerfish, Goblin Shark, and Zombie Worms to name a few.  Sadly there are also many signs of plastic debris floating around deep in the trench, with some even being found inside of certain species’.

The pressure at Mariana Trench is 1000 times greater than the sea level's atmospheric pressure.

Mariana Trench's ocean floor has a yellowish color to it due to all of the decaying plants and animals.

If you could place the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, at Challenger Deep of Mariana Trench, its peak would still be over 2 kilometers below sea level. As many as 200 microorganisms have been identified at Mariana Trench.

 

The Endangered Species Act (Environmental Science)

    The Endangered Species Act was passed and instituted in 1973. This act was seen as key legislation for both domestic and international conservation. The act is aimed to provide a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats. The goal of this act was to protect all species threatened with extinction that fall within the borders of the United States and its other territories. 

    The Endangered Species Act allows authorities to determine whether a given species is qualified for endangered or threatened status. According to the USFWS, the “species” definition also extends to subspecies or any distinct population segment capable of interbreeding. This means that certain subsets of a species may also be singled out for protection. If granted the status of “Endangered”,  the act prevents unauthorized harvest, custody, trade, and transport of the species. (Plants, animals, and other at-risk organisms). The act allows for the application of civil and criminal penalties upon those who violate this law.

    To regulate the Endangered Species Act there are different organizations that watch over each area of the environment. For example, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) of the Department of the Interior and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the Department of Commerce is responsible for the conservation and management of endangered fish and wildlife resources and their habitats. With this role an organization has, comes the power to establish cooperative agreements with and award monetary grants to the states to provide protection for at-risk organisms within their borders. States are offered financial assistance and incentives to develop and maintain these organizations, 

    

United States Radium Corporation

    The U.S. Radium Corp. is a radiation site located in Orange, New Jersey. This site was used to operate a radium processing plant from 1917-1926. During its operation, waste generated from the plant was disposed of both on and off the property of the facility. This waste contaminated the site and local properties with radium-226. 

    Radium-226 is a highly radioactive isotope with a half-life of 1600 years. Radium-226 emits ionizing radiation and decays into radon gas. When directly exposed to people, the radioactive dust particles can be inhaled or ingested, causing adverse health effects with an increased chance for certain types of cancer. The United States Radium Corporation was used to extract and process radium from carnotite ore. 

    The extracted radium was then sold and used for medical purposes and luminous paint. This luminous paint was especially in high demand for dials, watches, and aircraft instruments painted with luminescence paint. During its operation, about a half-ton of carnotite ore was processed each day. In 1926, the U.S. Radium Corporation ceased its extraction and processing. 

    The United States Radium Corporation employed around 100 workers, and about 70 of them were women. While working on the smaller number dials on thee watches, the owners of the company told the women to use their mouths to point the brush. Though there somewhat was an understanding of radium’s dangers, these women still used their mouths to help themselves paint on the dials. Due to the high volumes of radiation being this close to their mouths, many of these women began to suffer from diseases, such as anemia, bone fractures, and necrosis of the jaw, (radium jaw). Today these women are known as the ‘Radium Dial Girls’

    When New Jersey officials came to the realization of the dangers this level of radiation may cause in the early 1980s, they took immediate actions to protect both human health and the environment. In September 1983, the EPA placed the site on the Superfund programs National Priorities List.  Following this, between 1989 and 1993, the EPA completed a broader remedial investigation and feasibility study, further assessing the level of contamination in the area. In 1991, the EPA took interim removal actions in an attempt to mitigate the radiation’s threat to human health and the environment.