Temperature vs. Strength
Testable Question: Does the temperature of the water over which a hurricane reaches its strongest point affect strength of a hurricane?
Variables: The independent variable is the temperature of the water. The dependent variable is the strength of the hurricane. The control is that they all form over salt water.
Hypothesis: Because hurricanes are powered by thermal energy that is released when water vapor condenses, I hypothesize that the higher the temperature of the ocean where the hurricane reaches its strongest point, the stronger the hurricane will be.
Materials:
· Computer with internet and spreadsheet program(like excel)
· Printer or word processing program (like word)
Procedures:
1. Open a new spreadsheet in excel or a similar program.
2. In the first row, type “Name”, “Temperature of Ocean (°C)”, and “Strength (Saffir-Simpson)”, each in a separate box.
3. Go to http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/ and select 2008.
4. Type in all of the hurricanes listed for that year under “Name” in the spreadsheet along with their strengths.
5. Scroll down to "Individual Storm Details".
6. Click on the maps of the hurricanes you typed in the spreadsheet to see a larger map. Print this out or, to save paper, you can copy and paste the maps in to a word processing program.
7. Go back to the page you were on in step five and click on “tracking information” for each of the hurricanes in the spreadsheet, which will lead you to a data table. Either print this table or copy and paste it into a word processing program.
8. On each of the tables, search the WIND and PR columns to find the entry where the hurricane was at its maximum strength (highest winds, lowest pressure) and highlight the row. Find this position on the map using the ADV columns.
9. Go to http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ .
10. Start with Hurricane Bertha.
11. Look at the map you have printed or copied. Find the buoy closest to where the point you found in step 9. The closest one to Bertha’s point is station 41670. Click on it.
12. Click “View History”.
13. Click 2008 on a row under “Standard Meteorological”. (Once you get to the data table, see if this is the right one. If there are nines everywhere, that means that data is missing. Also, not all of them include every month. If it doesn’t work, pick another table.
14. Select “Method 2”.
15. Look for the date and time on the same row of your data table as the point you found in step 9. (Bertha: 07/08/00Z)
16. Find this on the huge data table you just opened.
17. Look in the WTMP (Water Temperature) column for the number that applies to this row. You have finally found the water temperature! Type this into your spreadsheet.
18. Repeat steps 12-19 with the rest of your hurricanes.
19. Use this data to make a table of averages.
Column 1: Category
Column 2: Average Temperature (°C)
20. Using the program, make a bar graph with the second and third columns of the first table and another using the entire second table.
21. View this article: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0317-08.htm
Variables: The independent variable is the temperature of the water. The dependent variable is the strength of the hurricane. The control is that they all form over salt water.
Hypothesis: Because hurricanes are powered by thermal energy that is released when water vapor condenses, I hypothesize that the higher the temperature of the ocean where the hurricane reaches its strongest point, the stronger the hurricane will be.
Materials:
· Computer with internet and spreadsheet program(like excel)
· Printer or word processing program (like word)
Procedures:
1. Open a new spreadsheet in excel or a similar program.
2. In the first row, type “Name”, “Temperature of Ocean (°C)”, and “Strength (Saffir-Simpson)”, each in a separate box.
3. Go to http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/ and select 2008.
4. Type in all of the hurricanes listed for that year under “Name” in the spreadsheet along with their strengths.
5. Scroll down to "Individual Storm Details".
6. Click on the maps of the hurricanes you typed in the spreadsheet to see a larger map. Print this out or, to save paper, you can copy and paste the maps in to a word processing program.
7. Go back to the page you were on in step five and click on “tracking information” for each of the hurricanes in the spreadsheet, which will lead you to a data table. Either print this table or copy and paste it into a word processing program.
8. On each of the tables, search the WIND and PR columns to find the entry where the hurricane was at its maximum strength (highest winds, lowest pressure) and highlight the row. Find this position on the map using the ADV columns.
9. Go to http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ .
10. Start with Hurricane Bertha.
11. Look at the map you have printed or copied. Find the buoy closest to where the point you found in step 9. The closest one to Bertha’s point is station 41670. Click on it.
12. Click “View History”.
13. Click 2008 on a row under “Standard Meteorological”. (Once you get to the data table, see if this is the right one. If there are nines everywhere, that means that data is missing. Also, not all of them include every month. If it doesn’t work, pick another table.
14. Select “Method 2”.
15. Look for the date and time on the same row of your data table as the point you found in step 9. (Bertha: 07/08/00Z)
16. Find this on the huge data table you just opened.
17. Look in the WTMP (Water Temperature) column for the number that applies to this row. You have finally found the water temperature! Type this into your spreadsheet.
18. Repeat steps 12-19 with the rest of your hurricanes.
19. Use this data to make a table of averages.
Column 1: Category
Column 2: Average Temperature (°C)
20. Using the program, make a bar graph with the second and third columns of the first table and another using the entire second table.
21. View this article: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0317-08.htm
Data Table(s):
Go Visual:
Claims:
Because of the data collected in this experiment and the article presented in this report, I claim that the temperature of the water does contribute to the strength of the hurricane. I can prove this statement because of my data and the results of the experiment presented in the article. Because there are four factors to the strength of a hurricane: rising sea surface temperature, humidity in the troposphere, wind shear, and air circulation patterns known as “zonal stretching deformations”, my data still supports this theory. The fact that temperature is not the only factor in hurricane strength also supports the data I collected.
Conclusion:
The purpose of this experiment was to find out if the temperature of the water over which a hurricane travels affects the Saffir-Simpson strength of the hurricane. My hypothesis was that because hurricanes are powered by thermal energy released when water vapor condenses, the higher the temperature of the ocean where the hurricane reaches its strongest point, the stronger the hurricane will be. My hypothesis was correct, but I also discovered that there are three other causes: humidity in the troposphere, wind shear, and air circulation patterns known as “zonal stretching deformations”. I can prove that my hypothesis was correct because category 1 hurricanes had a lower average temperature (26.6) than category 4 hurricanes (27.9). Though the other two categories did not follow this layout, it can be credited to the fact that temperature isn’t the only factor and that there was only one hurricane in each of those categories in the year 2008.
New Questions:
Are hurricanes that form closer to the equator stronger than hurricanes that form farther away because of increased or decreased ocean temperature?
Because of the data collected in this experiment and the article presented in this report, I claim that the temperature of the water does contribute to the strength of the hurricane. I can prove this statement because of my data and the results of the experiment presented in the article. Because there are four factors to the strength of a hurricane: rising sea surface temperature, humidity in the troposphere, wind shear, and air circulation patterns known as “zonal stretching deformations”, my data still supports this theory. The fact that temperature is not the only factor in hurricane strength also supports the data I collected.
Conclusion:
The purpose of this experiment was to find out if the temperature of the water over which a hurricane travels affects the Saffir-Simpson strength of the hurricane. My hypothesis was that because hurricanes are powered by thermal energy released when water vapor condenses, the higher the temperature of the ocean where the hurricane reaches its strongest point, the stronger the hurricane will be. My hypothesis was correct, but I also discovered that there are three other causes: humidity in the troposphere, wind shear, and air circulation patterns known as “zonal stretching deformations”. I can prove that my hypothesis was correct because category 1 hurricanes had a lower average temperature (26.6) than category 4 hurricanes (27.9). Though the other two categories did not follow this layout, it can be credited to the fact that temperature isn’t the only factor and that there was only one hurricane in each of those categories in the year 2008.
New Questions:
Are hurricanes that form closer to the equator stronger than hurricanes that form farther away because of increased or decreased ocean temperature?
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