Struggling with Assignments

So this week was a busy one. Natural disasters paired with midterm exams and assignments, you start thinking it was a month rather than seven days. However, this week helped me realize that my country really needs environmentalist to step forward and help the overall development. This surprisingly gave me a lot of motivation to finish my “scientific poster” for a course I’m doing. This was obviously based on none other than (you guessed it), ”Hurricanes and Corals”

At this point, with all the research I am doing, I think myself an expert in this topic. I have spent weeks researching, reading, and struggling to change words so I don't get accused of plagiarism. All this built up knowledge was meant for me to share with the public in anyway possible. Unfortunately, a scientific poster is nothing like a blog.

For a scientific poster, you need to use short bulleted points to convey your message. How am I supposed to fit my vast knowledge into a few words. The impact a hurricane has on the marine environment it so detailed, it needs paragraphs to explain. A couple words per point does not do it justice.

There must be a certain understanding to the way a hurricane works to know how it could affect a reef. Then you have to be aware of the type of coral that exist in the Caribbean to know the level of destruction that could take place. Basically I felt all my posts should be included in some way to give the necessary information.

Of course it ended up being really lengthy, which was NOT aesthetically pleasing. Even when I cut it down to a few paragraphs, it was still too wordy and couldn't fit on the page. I think the most difficult part, was determining which point should be excluded or was not necessary. It's so hard to determine what should be there. Either way there is still time for me to fix what I can and maybe when I'm done (and not ashamed of the marks) I may post it up here.

Caribbean Coral Colonies

When you think of the Caribbean, you imagine sun, sand and surf. Many come to our region just to enjoy our warm waters and amazing reefs (others stay for the food).

The Caribbean reefs only make up 8% of the world coral reefs which is not surprising considering our small size. It is composed of [1]:

• Mainly Fringing Reefs (Shore Reefs) which are reefs that extend from the shore with no true lagoon (deep water channel) between them.
• Two Barrier Reefs, which are reefs that run parallel to the shore and are separated by a lagoon, near Belize and island of Providencia.
• One Atoll Reef, which is a circular oceanic reef system containing a large lagoon, called Glover's Reef off the coast of Belize.

Image Credit: World Resources Institute 

The Caribbean Sea contains approximately 65 species of hard coral (reefs builders) and 700 reef associated fish species [1]. Most reefs are mainly dominated by [2]:

• Clubtip Finger Coral (Porites porites)

• Lobed Star Coral (Montastrea annularis)

• Staghorn Coral (Acropora cervicornis)

• Elkhorn Coral (Acropora palmata).

These stony corals are colonial corals which secrete calcium carbonate to make its skeleton. Because of their tough outer structure, when the coral dies, it provides a stable place for other polyps to settle an grow. These hard corals make up the base of many coral reefs, when it provides structural support and a suitable environment for juvenile fish to live and evade predators [3].

Since the majority of Caribbean Islands have Fringing Reefs, the population tends to utilize it as much as it can. Many people have grown to depend on the reefs for income, through tourism and the fishing industry, for food and even medicine. We even use reefs for protection against hurricanes to reduce storm surges that could destroy coastal areas. With the amount of activity involved in and around reefs it is no wonder that reefs are slowly being destroyed either naturally or man-made. Even though policies are being made to improve the treatment of coral reefs it may be a long time before the reefs begin to properly heal.

For a better understanding of Coral Reefs in general you can check out the video below:

video.nationalgeographic.com/video/101-videos/coral-reefs-101

References:

[1] https://www.coral-reef-info.com/caribbean-coral-reefs.html

[2] https://scubadiverlife.com/basic-caribbean-coral-identification-part-1-hard-corals/

[3] https://www.thoughtco.com/stony-corals-hard-corals-2291834

On a Scale of 1-5

Everything in our world for some reason can be given a number. From our national identification card to meal options. It is used to clearly identify specific objects and even arrange into a scale. This was the concept that lead to the creation of the popular Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS) which is mostly used in the Atlantic and North and Central Pacific basins. (Personally this was the easiest scale to remember as the other scales were coded and had to depend on a computer to interpret. Granted, the computer was more accurate with all the factors considered.)

As the name suggest it was created by Herbert Saffir and Robert Simpson in 1971 to easily identify the levels of a hurricane. In the original scale rated 1-5, it categorized a hurricane based on the wind speed to the destruction of the surroundings, effects of storm surges and flooding. In the last decade, improvements were made to the scale to increase accuracy, by removing flood ranges, storm surges, rainfall and location [1]. The improved SSHWS only measures the wind speed and the potential destruction on infrastructure.

Image credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Category 1:

Usually can destroy flimsy homes, tear off unsecured galvanized roofs, uproot shallow trees and snap tree branches. Can topple power lines.

Category 2:

Can destroy wooden structures and parts of buildings, uproot numerous trees (can block roads) and destroy power lines.

Category 3:

Considered a major hurricane. Can destroy parts of well made buildings, blow away roofs, uproot trees, destroy power lines and cut off water lines. Roads may become impassable.

Category 4:

Considered a major hurricane. Can destroy external walls of buildings and rip off roofs, destroy trees, power lines and water lines. Roads may be impassable and the area can become extremely dangerous to live in.

Category 5:

Considered a major hurricane. Can destroy whole buildings. Flaten trees, power lines, cut off water lines. Roads will become unusable and the area unfit to live in for several months [2].

The damage caused by hurricane force wind is perfectly shown in the video [3]:

Video credit: The COMET Program/MetEd

References:

[1] http://www.nws.noaa.gov/infoservicechanges/sshws.pdf

[2] https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php

[3] https://youtu.be/W3ghU4e2OKY

How To Build A Hurricane

Everyone at one point in their lives has heard about hurricanes. It may be called a tropical storm, 
typhoon, tropical depression or cyclone depending on where you live. In the Caribbean we refer 
to this destructive force of nature as a hurricane.

What is a hurricane?

A hurricane is an intense tropical weather system of strong thunderstorms with a well-defined surface circulation and maximum sustained winds of 74 mph (64 kt) or higher. [1] In the Northern Hemisphere it usually rotates counterclockwise and in the Southern Hemisphere it rotates clockwise. This is due to the rotation of the earth, called the Coriolis Effect, whereby the rotation of the Earth creates air currents along the surface at the equator which is then pushed outwards.

Photo Credit:Lisa Gardiner/Windows to the Universe

How do they form?

Hurricanes need warm water and low steady air currents to form. The optimum temperature for the formation of hurricanes is around 26͐°C. At this temperature, water starts evaporating from the surface of the sea, creating warm moist air. This warm air would then expand and rapidly rise upwards, while cool air would sink to take its place. The process is then repeated creating currents from the surface of the ocean to the atmosphere. This vortex with a warm core consisting of ascending moist air and inside it another still warmer, but much drier air originally produced by strong subsidence [2]. If high winds are present it can disturb the flow of air. For a hurricane to form  there must be low wind speeds so that the level of moisture remains relatively the same creating the rotating motion of the system.

How are hurricanes built?

Tropical disturbances 

(rain clouds build over warm water)

Tropical depressions 

(rotating thunderstorms with 38 mph or less wind speeds)

Tropical storm 

(wind speed passes 39 mph)

Hurricane 

(wind speed passes 74mph)

References:

[1] http://www.hurricane.com/what-is-a-hurricane.php

[2] http://www.geophysica.fi/pdf/geophysica_1948_3_1_026_palmen.pdf
[Palmen, Erik. "On the formation and structure of tropical hurricanes." Geophysica 3, no. 1 (1948): 26-38. (pg10, para 5)]