Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
north into Canada. During this month, the panhandle
of Texas and Oklahoma experienced dust storms on
28 out of 31 days. At one point, as the United States
Congress debated the issue in Washington, dust
originating 2000 km to the west drifted over the
capital. By 1937, 43 per cent or 2.8 million hectares of
the arable land at the center of the dust bowl had been
seriously depleted. In some counties over 50 per cent
of the farm population went bankrupt and onto relief.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER
READING
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Ananthaswamy, V. 2003. Historic storms live again.
New Scientist
27 September, pp. 14-15.
Anthes, R. A. 1982. Tropical cyclones: their evolution, structure
and effects.
American Meteorological Society Meteorological
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19 No. 41.
Australian Bureau of Meteorology 1977.
Report on Cyclone Tracy,
December 1974
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Australian Bureau of Meteorology 2001. Preliminary report on
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Australian Bureau of Meteorology 2003.
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Australian Geology and Geophysics
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Bresch, D.N., Bisping, M. and Lemcke, G. 2000.
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Europe: An Underestimated Risk
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Bryant, E.A. 1983. Coastal erosion and beach accretion Stanwell Park
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Bryant, E.A. and Kidd, R.W. 1975. Beach erosion, May-June, 1974,
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The Environment as
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Sea Surface Studies: A Global Review
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Chang, C.P., Liu, C.H. and Kuo, H.C. 2003. Typhoon Vamei: An
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Coastal Engineering Research Center 1977.
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CONCLUDING COMMENTS
The phenomena described in this chapter account for
most of the deaths, economic disruption, and societal
change due to climatic hazards. While it is relatively
easy today to model the global pressure changes
described in the previous chapter, the storm systems in
this chapter pose a problem because they contain
elements of chaotic systems. East coast bombs are one
of the best examples of this, while the Great Ice Storm
of 1998 in eastern North America illustrates the unpre-
dictability of many storms. It is thus relatively simple to
predict temperature increases in a 'Greenhouse'-
warmed world fifty years from now using sophisticated
computer modeling; but it is impossible to predict sub-
sequent changes in the magnitude and frequency of
tropical cyclones, mid-latitude depressions or ice
storms stalled at the boundary between air masses. The
Great Ice Storm of 1998 also illustrates how vulnerable
major cities are to climatic phenomenon. The world's
largest cities of economic importance operate on elec-
tricity. Cut off power supplies and these cities cease to
operate at any economically viable level for days, weeks
or months. However, such disruptions are amenable to
engineering solutions. Storms similar to those that
struck northern Europe in the Middle Ages are not.
Were a storm the size and intensity of the All Saints
Day storm of November 1570 to recur today, the
effects on modern European economies would be
catastrophic. At present, the types of large storms
described in this chapter are not so deadly as they have
been historically. One of the main reasons for this is the
fact that emergency services in many countries are
geared to respond and militate against extreme death
tolls. This has been a trend in developed countries such
as the United States as well as impoverished ones such
as Bangladesh. High death tolls are now more likely to
occur during localized events such as thunderstorms.
These localized storms will be discussed in the follow-
ing chapter.
