Replying to @realDonaldTrump
His #NukeHurricanes idea is so stupid that it made my list.
— The Retrospective @TRetrospective
Source: twitter.com
dragoni reblogged
politishaun-deactivated20230409
Trump has floated dropping nuclear bombs into hurricanes to stop them from hitting the United States in meetings with Homeland Security and national security officials, Axios reported Sunday.
According to sources who have heard the president’s private remarks and have been briefed on a National Security Council (NSC) memorandum, the suggestions were made during briefings on hurricanes.
“I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?” Trump said at one such White House briefing, a source who was there told Axios.
“They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?” the source added, paraphrasing the president’s remarks.
The source told Axios that the briefer responded with something to the effect of “Sir, we’ll look into that.”
A 2017 NSC memo relayed to Axios reportedly describes a second conversation in which Trump asked whether the administration should bomb hurricanes to stop them from hitting the homeland…
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fact sheet about tropic cyclones addresses the concept and points out that it would be unlikely to work and most likely cause more harm than good.
“Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems,” the sheet reads.
“Needless to say, this is not a good idea.”
Trump,
dragoni reblogged
How Do Hurricanes Form?
Hurricanes are the most violent storms on Earth. People call these storms by other names, such as typhoons or cyclones, depending on where they occur.
The scientific term for ALL of these storms is tropical cyclone. Only tropical cyclones that form over the Atlantic Ocean or eastern and central Pacific Ocean are called “hurricanes.”
Whatever they are called, tropical cyclones all form the same way.
Tropical cyclones are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as fuel. That is why they form only over warm ocean waters near the equator. This warm, moist air rises and condenses to form clouds and storms.
As this warmer, moister air rises, there’s less air left near the Earth’s surface. Essentially, as this warm air rises, this causes an area of lower air pressure below.
This starts the ‘engine’ of the storm. To fill in the low pressure area, air from surrounding areas with higher air pressure pushes in. That “new” air near the Earth’s surface also gets heated by the warm ocean water so it also gets warmer and moister and then it rises.
As the warm air continues to rise, the surrounding air swirls in to take its place. The whole system of clouds and wind spins and grows, fed by the ocean’s heat and water evaporating from the surface.
As the storm system rotates faster and faster, an eye forms in the center. It is vey calm and clear in the eye, with very low air pressure.
Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land, because they are no longer being “fed” by the energy from the warm ocean waters. However, when they move inland, they can drop many inches of rain causing flooding as well as wind damage before they die out completely.
There are five types, or categories, of hurricanes. The scale of categories is called the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale and they are based on wind speed.
How Does NASA Study Hurricanes?
Our satellites gather information from space that are made into pictures. Some satellite instruments measure cloud and ocean temperatures. Others measure the height of clouds and how fast rain is falling. Still others measure the speed and direction of winds.
We also fly airplanes into and above hurricanes. The instruments aboard planes gather details about the storm. Some parts are too dangerous for people to fly into. To study these parts, we use airplanes that operate without people.
To learn more about how we study hurricanes, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/main/index.html
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
Science Matters
MS MR - Hurricane (Adventure Club Remix)
Source: SoundCloud / Adventure Club
Climate Change and the Future of Weather
Source: The New York Times
Based on the trajectory, Tropical Storm/Hurricane Karen is going slam through a majority of Tea Party / Republican states!
As squabbles in the US capital drag on, a powerful weather pattern will scatter a phalanx of threats across the country. And the combination of hobbled government and natural disaster is increasing the risk to Americans.
Here’s exactly why Friday will be a big weather day in America:
- Tropical Storm Karen is expected to strengthen into a hurricane while threatening landfall on the Gulf Coast. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has issued a state of emergency, and the US Corps of Engineers have closed a massive storm-surge barrier designed to protect the city of New Orleans and built after Hurricane Katrina.
...
As potential natural disasters loom, the American government is shut down because of a budget dispute. As part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s mission to “protect life and property,” critical civil servants such as weather forecasters must remain at work—without pay —while support staff and other “non-essential” personnel are being sent home.
"Whenever a hurricane comes up here," said Nicholas Coch, a professor of sedimentology and coastal geology at Queens College, "you add one to the category because we're in the worst possible place in the world to be."
Reason #1: The "New York Bight"
Reason #2: High buildings and bridges are highly vulnerable.
Reason #3: New York has many vital underground systems that are prone to flooding.
Reason #4: The edge of the city is full of vital facilities.
Source: National Geographic
NASA TV is broadcasting satellite video of Hurricane Sandy beamed from the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS orbits the earth around once every 90 minutes, so there will be a series of short windows when the storm will be visible. The first is at 11:16ET, following which the next time available will be 12:45ET.
Source: theverge.com