Abstract

Citation

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Pendleton, T. (2022). 1-116-TropicalStormWindspeeds-ModelingScenario. SIMIODE, QUBES Educational Resources. doi:10.25334/4YWS-YE39

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Article Context

Description

This modeling scenario is suitable for students who have experience with separable equations.

Due to the potential tragic nature of tropical systems, there is a need for the scientific understanding and modeling of these complicated phenomena in order to reduce unwanted destruction and prevent unnecessary deaths. Hurricanes are large, swirling storms with winds of 119 kilometers per hour (74 mph) or higher and are usually characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain. Coastal damage may be caused by strong winds and rain, high waves (due to winds), storm surges (due to severe pressure changes), and the potential of spawning tornadoes.

Tropical storms also draw in air from a large area—which can be a vast area for the most severe storms—and concentrate the precipitation of the water content in that air (made up from atmospheric moisture and moisture evaporated from water) into a much smaller area.

This continual replacement of moisture-bearing air by new moisture-bearing air after its moisture has fallen as rain, may cause extremely heavy rain and river flooding up to 25 miles inland from the coastline, far beyond the amount of water that the local atmosphere holds at any one time.

In an effort to better understand and predict the path and intensity of a land-falling tropical system, we propose the development of a model for predicting the maximum sustained wind speed of landfalling tropical cyclones.