Cyclone

Riding the Cyclone, the world famous Coney Island rollercoaster was supposed to be the highlight of twelve-year-old Nora's summer, but right after they disembark, Nora's thirteen-year-old cousin Riley falls to the ground and into a coma that Nora thinks is her fault.

This original book describes the behavior of tropical cyclones in the South Pacific. It investigates the broad range of disturbance effects these violent storms have on the physical environments of the islands that lie in their path and the people who live on them. It is the first book to link these two themes – the characteristics of cyclones and their landscape impacts. Examples and illustrations are drawn widely from across the region, resulting in a highly readable volume.

The subject of tropical cyclones in Southern Africa, also known as hurricanes or typhoons in other regions of the world, has been growing over the past few decades. However, there is still limited literature on foundational and fundamental topics on the matter. To this end, this book addresses this gap, citing some examples from both historic and recent tropical cyclones. The book presents meteorological and climatic aspects of tropical cyclones, including reviews on forecasting, warning message dissemination and public response aspects of early warning systems with a focus on the Tropical Cyclones Idai and Kenneth. Fundamentals in disaster risk reduction (DRR) are also discussed moving from the provisions of the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005–2015), to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030). Climate change issues are central to the publication, as well as the role of information and communication technologies in DRR and management. The book also tackles some challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of regional legal and institutional frameworks on DRR. The book comes as part of a series with three volumes. The other volumes include “Cyclones in Southern Africa Vol. 1: Interfacing the Catastrophic Impact of Cyclone Idai with SDGs in Zimbabwe” and “Cyclones in Southern Africa Vol 3: Implications for the Sustainable Development Goals”. To this end, this book is suitable as a read for several professionals and disciplines such as tourism and hospitality studies, economics, sustainable development, development studies, environmental sciences, arts, geography, life sciences, politics, planning and public health.

A comprehensive summary of tropical cyclone variability at time scales from intraseasonal and interannual to interdecadal and centennial. Major climate oscillations (Madden-Julian, El Niño, Atlantic Meridional Mode and Pacific Decadal) are covered, and their impacts on tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are discussed.

This book deals with recent advances in our understanding and prediction of tropical cyclogenesis, intensification and movement as well as landfall processes like heavy rainfall, gale wind and storm surge based on the latest observational and numerical weather prediction (NWP) modeling platforms. It also includes tropical cyclone (TC) management issues like early warning systems, recent high impact TC events, disaster preparedness, assessment of risk and vulnerability including construction, archiving and retrieval of the best tracking and historical data sets, policy decision etc., in view of recent findings on climate change aspects and their impact on TC activity. The chapters are authored by leading experts, both from research and operational environments. This book is relevant to cyclone forecasters and researchers, managers, policy makers, graduate and undergraduate students. It intends to stimulate thinking and hence further research in the field of TCs and climate change, especially over the Indian Ocean region and provides high-quality reference materials for all the users mentioned above for the management of TCs over this region.

There is evidence that the world has been witnessing more intense tropical cyclones. Accompanying these tropical cyclones are heightened levels of devastation that witness the loss of human life and wildlife, destruction of natural resources and property and the disruption of major economic and social activities. To this end, there is a growing demand for publications focusing on tropical cyclones at various levels that include regional, national and local levels, especially from Africa. One sub-region that has been witnessing the harsh realities of the increasing intensity of tropical cyclones in southern Africa. However, within this region, countries are usually impacted at varying degrees of damage. Among the countries that usually encounter the harshness of these tropical cyclones are the Comoros, Botswana, Madagascar, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Reunion, the Seychelles, South Africa and Zimbabwe. From the history books, the following tropical cyclones made landfall and hit southern Africa: Eline (2000), Favio (2007), Dineo (2017), Idai (2019), Kenneth (2019), Eliose (2021), and Chalane (2020). Although all these tropical cyclones had negative impacts, it is undoubtedly Tropical Cyclone Idai that shocked the world with its devastation mainly in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe in March 2019. Key infrastructure was destroyed, livelihoods were lost, and the environment was degraded. Thousands of people died, many more were injured, many remain unaccounted for and others remained homeless as of the time of finalising this book in February 2021. This book, therefore focuses on the devastating impacts of Tropical Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe. The book interfaces Tropical Cyclone Idai’s impacts with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and some of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This linkage was deliberate given that there is still time remaining until 2030, and the world has generally agreed to move into the future along the pathways of sustainable development and sustainability. The book adds to the first comprehensive profiling of the impacts of tropical cyclones on southern African economies, particularly that of Zimbabwe. It also comes up as the first in a three-volume series. The other volumes to look out for are Cyclones in Southern Africa Vol 2: Foundational and Fundamental Topics; and Cyclones in Southern Africa Vol 3: Implications for the Sustainable Development Goals. To this end, this book is suitable as a read for several professionals and disciplines such as tourism and hospitality studies, economics, sustainable development, development studies, environmental sciences, arts, geography, life sciences, politics, planning and public health.

Tropical Cyclones and hurricanes, long feared for the death and destruction that often accompanies them, are among the most fascinating of atmospheric phenomena. Created by thermodynamic processes, they unleash vast amounts of energy and influence a wide variety of natural processes along their paths. Richard Anthes tells the story of tropical cyclones creation and destruction, of meteorology's successes in understanding, modeling and predicting their behavior, and of the attempts to modify them. The book begins with a lively introduction to hurricanes, their awesome power, and their effects on individuals and societies in the past and present. The characteristics of the mature hurricane are revealed by consideration of rawinsonde, aircraft and satellite data. The physical processes responsible for the development and maintenance of tropical cyclones are treated comprehensively, and illustrated with both qualitative and quantitative examples. The role of the planetary boundary layer, cumulus convection and radiation are all discussed in detail. Progress in numerical simulation of tropical cyclones is carefully reviewed. Modern, three-dimensional models succeed in simulating observed features such as the eye and spiral rain bands and in predicting storm motion over time intervals of three days. Current capabilities to predict and modify hurricanes and tropical cyclones are fully examined. The methods and difficulties of operational forecasting, the economic aspects of storm predictions, and the trends in accuracy of offical forecasts are all considered. The potential benefits and scientific problems associated with hurricane modification are discussed as part of a review of experimental and theoretical results on the consquences of seeding hurricane clouds. A unique feature of the book is a thorough treatment of the interactions between storm and ocean, with both observations and thery being integrated to provide a complete description.

Christmas Eve 1974 is marked indelibly into the Australian psyche, as the night tropical Cyclone Tracy devastated the city of Darwin. Now, over 40 years later, Jackie Frenchs lyrical rhyming text tells the story of a citys indomitable spirit, and Bruce Whatleys sumptuous illustrations bring to life the powerful force of the storm to a whole new generation of readers.