Download or read book Tennessee Tornado Frequency Vulnerability and Relation to Large scale Climate Variability written by Vincent Marshall Brown and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work explores the climatologies of isolated tornadoes and tornado outbreaks across the state of Tennessee, a state that in some years experiences more tornadoes than states in the heart of Tornado Alley. Part one assesses tornado frequency characteristics and fatality statistics within 100 km of three major Tennessee cities (Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville) between 1950 and 2013. Nashville reported the most tornadoes, (426) but Memphis reported the most fatalities. Knoxville and Nashville tornadoes occurred on fewer days, while Memphis tornadoes were spread across more tornado days. Spring was the most active season for tornadoes, but Memphis still experienced approximately 25% of its total tornadoes in the winter, a season prone to nocturnal tornadoes. There was no statistically significant difference between the seasonality of tornadoes for each of the cities, which is surprising given the longitudinal expanse of the state. Regional-scale analyses of this type provide insight on how tornado risk and vulnerability may vary considerably across a single state. Part two analyzes tornado outbreak characteristics (1980--2014) from a climatological perspective and assesses how a large-scale climate oscillation may affect tornado and tornado-outbreak frequencies across Tennessee. Results indicate that 72.5% of all tornadoes in Tennessee occur in outbreaks, when an outbreak is subjectively defined as any 24-hour period with four or more tornadoes within the state. Winter, defined as Dec/Jan/Feb, had the second-highest tornado-outbreak frequency. This provides a possible explanation for the high frequency of tornado-related fatalities in Tennessee, as the winter is a time of reduced daylight and is when nocturnal tornadoes, which are twice as likely to kill, are most prevalent. The Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) was investigated using generalized linear models with a Quasi-Poisson distribution to determine if a relationship existed between tornado activity and a large-scale climate oscillation. Results indicate that above (below) average values of MEI, or El Niño (La Niña) events, are related to times of decreased (increased) tornado activity across Tennessee, and are supported by meteorological considerations. Offering future estimations of tornado activity on a seasonal or monthly scale can aid in reducing susceptibility to these dangerous events.
Download or read book Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation written by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-28 with total page 593 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extreme weather and climate events, interacting with exposed and vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters. This Special Report explores the social as well as physical dimensions of weather- and climate-related disasters, considering opportunities for managing risks at local to international scales. SREX was approved and accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 18 November 2011 in Kampala, Uganda.
Download or read book The Relationship of Large scale Atmospheric Circulation Patterns to Tornadoes and the Impacts of Climate Change written by Cameron C. Lee and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Due to the shortcomings of contemporary global climate models (GCMs), the impacts of climate change on the frequency and seasonality of tornadoes has not been well studied. Prevailing research on the topic favors an ingredients-based methodology which uses instability, moisture and wind shear estimations derived from GCM output data in order to project the change in the number of favorable environments for severe weather. However, by utilizing synoptic climatological methods, this thesis takes an entirely different approach to directly projecting future tornado occurrence. Using a six-step process, that includes principal components analysis, cluster analysis, and discriminant function analysis, this thesis first creates a continental-scale map pattern classification at three levels of the atmosphere, from geopotential height (at 500mb and 700mb) and temperature (850mb) data fields. These patterns are then associated to F2 and stronger United States (US) tornado days from 1957-2002 using binary logistic regression. Then, using output data from two GCMs, spanning five different model emissions scenarios, this synoptic climatology of tornadoes is utilized in order to project the changes in the frequency and seasonality of US tornadoes due to a changing climate. Results indicate that US tornado days will increase anywhere from 3.8% to 12.7% by the 2090s. The majority of this increase is likely to be manifested in the earlier part of the tornado season - from February through April, while a slight decrease is expected over the US as a whole from May through August. In addition to the shift in seasonality, a broadening of the peak tornado season is also noticed under some scenarios - from a one month peak in May in the 20th Century, to a two or three month peak by the end of the 21st Century. Geographically, portions of the Northern and Central Plains, the High Plains, the Lower Great Lakes, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Southeast are projected to experience an increase in tornado days under some future scenarios. The Upper Great Lakes states and the Southern Plains are projected to experience a decrease in tornado days.
Download or read book Workshop on Climate Variability and Water Resource Management in the Southeastern United States written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Attribution of Extreme Weather Events in the Context of Climate Change written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-07-28 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As climate has warmed over recent years, a new pattern of more frequent and more intense weather events has unfolded across the globe. Climate models simulate such changes in extreme events, and some of the reasons for the changes are well understood. Warming increases the likelihood of extremely hot days and nights, favors increased atmospheric moisture that may result in more frequent heavy rainfall and snowfall, and leads to evaporation that can exacerbate droughts. Even with evidence of these broad trends, scientists cautioned in the past that individual weather events couldn't be attributed to climate change. Now, with advances in understanding the climate science behind extreme events and the science of extreme event attribution, such blanket statements may not be accurate. The relatively young science of extreme event attribution seeks to tease out the influence of human-cause climate change from other factors, such as natural sources of variability like El Niño, as contributors to individual extreme events. Event attribution can answer questions about how much climate change influenced the probability or intensity of a specific type of weather event. As event attribution capabilities improve, they could help inform choices about assessing and managing risk, and in guiding climate adaptation strategies. This report examines the current state of science of extreme weather attribution, and identifies ways to move the science forward to improve attribution capabilities.
Download or read book Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States written by US Global Change Research Program and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 999 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As global climate change proliferates, so too do the health risks associated with the changing world around us. Called for in the President’s Climate Action Plan and put together by experts from eight different Federal agencies, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health: A Scientific Assessment is a comprehensive report on these evolving health risks, including: Temperature-related death and illness Air quality deterioration Impacts of extreme events on human health Vector-borne diseases Climate impacts on water-related Illness Food safety, nutrition, and distribution Mental health and well-being This report summarizes scientific data in a concise and accessible fashion for the general public, providing executive summaries, key takeaways, and full-color diagrams and charts. Learn what health risks face you and your family as a result of global climate change and start preparing now with The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health.
Download or read book Economic and Societal Impacts of Tornadoes written by Kevin Simmons and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-01-22 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For almost a decade, economists Kevin M. Simmons and Daniel Sutter have been studying the economic effects and social consequences of the approximately 1,200 tornadoes that touch down across the United States annually. During this time, they have compiled information from sources such as NOAA and the U.S. Census Bureau to examine the casualties caused by tornadoes and to evaluate the National Weather Service (NWS)’s efforts to reduce these casualties. Their unique database has enabled this fascinating and game-changing study for meteorologists, social scientists, emergency managers, and everyone studying severe weather, policy, disaster management, or applied economics.
Download or read book Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards written by Birkmann and published by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards presents a broad range of current approaches to measuring vulnerability. It provides a comprehensive overview of different concepts at the global, regional, national, and local levels, and explores various schools of thought. More than 40 distinguished academics and practitioners analyse quantitative and qualitative approaches, and examine their strengths and limitations. This book contains concrete experiences and examples from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe to illustrate the theoretical analyses.The authors provide answers to some of the key questions on how to measure vulnerability and they draw attention to issues with insufficient coverage, such as the environmental and institutional dimensions of vulnerability and methods to combine different methodologies.This book is a unique compilation of state-of-the-art vulnerability assessment and is essential reading for academics, students, policy makers, practitioners, and anybody else interested in understanding the fundamentals of measuring vulnerability. It is a critical review that provides important conclusions which can serve as an orientation for future research towards more disaster resilient communities.
Download or read book Catastrophe Modeling written by Patricia Grossi and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-01-27 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the research that has been conducted at Wharton Risk Management Center over the past five years on catastrophic risk. Covers a hot topic in the light of recent terroristic activities and nature catastrophes. Develops risk management strategies for reducing and spreading the losses from future disasters. Provides glossary of definitions and terms used throughout the book.
Download or read book Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region written by R. Krishnan and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-06-12 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book discusses the impact of human-induced global climate change on the regional climate and monsoons of the Indian subcontinent, adjoining Indian Ocean and the Himalayas. It documents the regional climate change projections based on the climate models used in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) and climate change modeling studies using the IITM Earth System Model (ESM) and CORDEX South Asia datasets. The IPCC assessment reports, published every 6–7 years, constitute important reference materials for major policy decisions on climate change, adaptation, and mitigation. While the IPCC assessment reports largely provide a global perspective on climate change, the focus on regional climate change aspects is considerably limited. The effects of climate change over the Indian subcontinent involve complex physical processes on different space and time scales, especially given that the mean climate of this region is generally shaped by the Indian monsoon and the unique high-elevation geographical features such as the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, the Tibetan Plateau and the adjoining Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and Bay of Bengal. This book also presents policy relevant information based on robust scientific analysis and assessments of the observed and projected future climate change over the Indian region.
Download or read book Minding the Weather written by Robert R. Hoffman and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2023-08-15 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed study of research on the psychology of expertise in weather forecasting, drawing on findings in cognitive science, meteorology, and computer science. This book argues that the human cognition system is the least understood, yet probably most important, component of forecasting accuracy. Minding the Weather investigates how people acquire massive and highly organized knowledge and develop the reasoning skills and strategies that enable them to achieve the highest levels of performance. The authors consider such topics as the forecasting workplace; atmospheric scientists' descriptions of their reasoning strategies; the nature of expertise; forecaster knowledge, perceptual skills, and reasoning; and expert systems designed to imitate forecaster reasoning. Drawing on research in cognitive science, meteorology, and computer science, the authors argue that forecasting involves an interdependence of humans and technologies. Human expertise will always be necessary.
Download or read book Severe Convective Storms written by Charles Doswell and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-03-30 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This highly illustrated book is a collection of 13 review papers focusing on convective storms and the weather they produce. It discusses severe convective storms, mesoscale processes, tornadoes and tornadic storms, severe local storms, flash flood forecast and the electrification of severe storms.
Download or read book Climate Change and Cities written by Cynthia Rosenzweig and published by . This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 855 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate Change and Cities bridges science-to-action for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in cities around the world.
Download or read book Climate Change Public Health and the Law written by Michael Burger and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-25 with total page 469 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents comprehensively the currently un-mapped constellation of issues related to climate change, public health, and the law.
Download or read book Environmental Hazards and Disasters written by Bimal Kanti Paul and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-11-30 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental Hazards and Disasters: Contexts, Perspectives and Management focuses on manifested threats to humans and their welfare as a result of natural disasters. The book uses an integrative approach to address socio-cultural, political and physical components of the disaster process. Human and social vulnerability as well as risk to environmental hazards are explored within the comprehensive context of diverse natural hazards and disasters. In addition to scientific explanations of disastrous occurrences, people and governments of hazard-prone countries often have their own interpretations for why natural disasters occur. In such interpretations they often either blame others, in order to conceal their inability to protect themselves, or they blame themselves, attributing the events to either real or imagined misdeeds. The book contains a chapter devoted to the neglected topic of such reactions and explanations. Includes chapters on key topics such as the application of GIS in hazard studies; resiliency; disasters and poverty; climate change and sustainability and development. This book is designed as a primary text for an interdisciplinary course on hazards for upper-level undergraduate and Graduate students. Although not targeted for an introductory hazards course, students in such a course may find it very useful as well. Additionally, emergency managers, planners, and both public and private organizations involved in disaster response, and mitigation could benefit from this book along with hazard researchers. It not only includes traditional and popular hazard topics (e.g., disaster cycles, disaster relief, and risk and vulnerability), it also includes neglected topics, such as the positive impacts of disasters, disaster myths and different accounts of disasters, and disasters and gender.
Download or read book Regionalizing Global Climate Variations written by Vasubandhu Misra and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2020-04-08 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regionalizing Global Climate Variations: A Study of the Southeastern US Regional Climate provides a framework for understanding regional climate in light of the many assessment reports being released regularly by international organizations. The book emphasizes global climate variations to explore the concept of the regionalization of those variations. Focusing on the climate of the Southeastern United States as a lens, it provides a template for targeting regional climate change in the context of global variability. It includes coverage of weather extremes, such as tornadoes, cyclones, and drought, and approaches the subject from a holistic perspective, including atmospheric, oceanic, and land components. The Southeastern United States is a particularly relevant case study, given the fact that it is the largest quarter of the United States and has the most coastlines, often resulting in a higher number of extreme weather events. This practical approach to understanding climate at the regional/local scale makes the book a valuable resource for students and researchers in Meteorology, Climate Science, Oceanography, Environmental Science, and other applied sectors. Includes descriptions of the morphology of weather extremes such as tropical cyclones and tornadoes Discusses the influence of climate change on weather extremes Presents a holistic or interdisciplinary approach to understanding regional climate that includes features of atmospheric science, meteorology, oceanography, and hydrology
Download or read book Next Generation Earth System Prediction written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-08-22 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the nation's economic activities, security concerns, and stewardship of natural resources become increasingly complex and globally interrelated, they become ever more sensitive to adverse impacts from weather, climate, and other natural phenomena. For several decades, forecasts with lead times of a few days for weather and other environmental phenomena have yielded valuable information to improve decision-making across all sectors of society. Developing the capability to forecast environmental conditions and disruptive events several weeks and months in advance could dramatically increase the value and benefit of environmental predictions, saving lives, protecting property, increasing economic vitality, protecting the environment, and informing policy choices. Over the past decade, the ability to forecast weather and climate conditions on subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) timescales, i.e., two to fifty-two weeks in advance, has improved substantially. Although significant progress has been made, much work remains to make S2S predictions skillful enough, as well as optimally tailored and communicated, to enable widespread use. Next Generation Earth System Predictions presents a ten-year U.S. research agenda that increases the nation's S2S research and modeling capability, advances S2S forecasting, and aids in decision making at medium and extended lead times.
