IHS2022: Teaching Physical Geography Through Movies

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IHS2022 Teaching Physical Geography Through
Movies

• Tropical Cyclones and Global Warming

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Outline

• Tropical Cyclones
• Real Life Occurrences
• How to use movies?
• Global Warming
• Hollywood magic
• The tragedy of commons
• Bonus Materials

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The Movie
HOW REAL IS THS TRUE STORY
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Tropical Cyclones
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Tropical Cyclones A revision

• Known as hurricanes in West Indies, typhoons in
  South China Sea or simply cyclones generally.
• The typhoon is a giant heat engine that derives
  its energy mainly through the transfer of
  sensible and latent heat from sea to air.

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Tropical Cyclones

• The whirling motion is due to the Coriolis effect
  and is most likely to form at 5 to 10 from the
  equator in late summer or early autumn.
• Diameters vary from 150 to 1000 km. Some have
  small diameters of 30 km.

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Features of a tropical cyclone

• Isobars are concentric and closely spaced
• Very low pressure at the centre
• No fronts but the centre is the calm "eye" - 10
  to 50km in diameter where air is descending
• Rainfall is evenly distributed, but torrential
• Wind force - velocities increase towards the
  centre reaching a maximum at the outer edge of
  the eye (must reach 65 knots to be at hurricane
  force). Speeds can reach 130 knots or more .

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Structure of a tropical cyclone
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Highly Destructive
                                           This
aerial view shows the destruction of boats and
pier sheds by a hurricane at New London, Conn.,
Sept. 22, 1938. The hurricane swept the North
Atlantic seabord Sept. 21, leaving damages
estimated at 4,000,000.
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A sailboat is seen on a pier in front of a Coast
Guard Cutter which was also washed up by winds
and surf from Hurricane Marilyn, Sunday, Sept.
17, 1995 in St. Thomas. John and Bonnie Honer had
been living in the saiboat and took shelter at a
local hotel before Hurricane Marilyn hit early
Saturday. They painted "Kids, We'R OK Send Money
M D" on the side of their yacht hoping their
children in the U.S. will not worry. One of the
Honer's sons is in California. St. Thomas was one
of the worst-hit Caribbean islands by the
hurricane.
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                   Trees lay in the road after
being felled by high winds from Hurricane Frances
04 September 2004 in Lantana, Fl in Palm Beach
County.
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                                Richard Feinberg
and Janna Barbary walk with their dogs September
4, 2004 in Melbourne, Florida. Hurricane Frances
is a slow moving category 2 hurricane that is
expected to affect Florida for days.
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                                        This
satellite image released by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 03
September, 2004, shows Hurricane Frances as it is
headed for the Florida east coast. The Category
Three storm was 320kms (200 miles) from the
Florida coast and just off the southern tip of
the Bahamian island of Great Abaco. As Nassau
braced for the full force of the hurricane, it
experienced powerful gusts that peaked at 140kph
(86mph) per hour, according to forecasters. The
storm is forecast to reach Florida 04 September.
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Then IVAN. the terrible

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Ivan_(2004)

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Hurricane Ivan

• Hurricane Ivan is the fifth hurricane of the 2004
  Atlantic hurricane season. Ivan is a Cape
  Verde-type hurricane that reached "unprecedented"
  intensity at low latitudes, peaking at 135 mph
  (215 km/h), making it a Category 4 Hurricane at
  only 10.6 N.
• After briefly being downgraded to Category 3
  intensity, Ivan struck Grenada directly on
  mid-day September 7 with Category 3 winds. It
  travelled across the Caribbean Sea, reaching
  Category 5 intensity before passing close to the
  Jamaican coast and Grand Cayman and crossing the
  western tip of Cuba. After moving into the
  eastern gulf its strength lessened to a Category
  4, and it continued on a track towards the
  north-northwest, making landfall in the U.S. near
  Gulf Shores, Alabama.
• As Ivan approached landfall, Florida Lt. Governor
  Toni Jennings described it as "the size of
  Frances but with the impact of Charley."1
  (http//www.cnn.com/2004/WEATHER/09/16/hurricane.i
  van/index.html)
• After landfall, Ivan moved north and then turned
  east, bringing heavy rainfall to large areas of
  the south-eastern United States. The wind
  strength weakened steadily and it lost its last
  tropical characteristics on September 18 while
  crossing Virginia.

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Hurricane Katrina

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_katrina
• Katrina grazed by New Orleans, Louisiana and made
  landfall in Biloxi, Mississippi in the early
  morning hours of August 29, 2005. The hurricane
  is believed to have killed thousands of people,
  and is known to have displaced more than one
  million a humanitarian crisis on a scale unseen
  in the U.S. since the American Civil War.

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Names for Atlantic Basin Tropical Cyclones

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Hurricane Animations

• Hurricane 101
• http//html.orlandoweather.com/sh/idi/weather/hur
  ricanes/
• Atlantic Hurricane Tracker
• http//www.nhc.noaa.gov/

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Formation of Tropical Cyclone
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The Perfect Storm

• This was a meteorological abnormality in that
  this nor'easter met up with the remnants of a
  hurricane and the storm retrograded, or began to
  move backward to the south and west. This storm
  then meandered in circle several hundred miles
  offshore. It continued to hurl huge waves at the
  shores from Puerto Rico to Maine. Winds topped
  100 miles over the Ocean. Nearly 750,000 sq.
  miles of ocean experienced gale force winds or
  more. Average wave height as registered by buoys
  was 50ft. with rogue waves up to 100 feet.
  Insured damage was listed at 168 million.
  President George Bush's summer home in
  Kennebunkport was damaged too.

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Lets check out the movies

• Look at the clips taken from the movie and
  discuss how you would like to use them to make
  learning tropical cyclones more meaningful.

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The EYE
How strong are the winds here?
The rain bands
The rain bands
How strong is the wind here?
Conditions here
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D Grade for its SCIENCE
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The synopsis

• This is the question that haunts climatologist
  Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid). Hall's research
  indicates that global warming could trigger an
  abrupt and catastrophic shift in the planet's
  climate. The ice cores that he's drilled in
  Antarctica show that it happened before, ten
  thousand years ago. And now he's warning
  officials that it could happen again if they
  don't act soon. But his warning comes too late.
• It all begins when Hall witnesses a piece of ice
  the size of Rhode Island break off the Antarctic
  Ice Shelf. Then a series of increasingly severe
  weather events start to unfold around the globe
  hail the size of grapefruit batters Tokyo,
  record-breaking hurricane winds pound Hawaii
  snow falls in New Delhi, and then a devastating
  series of tornadoes whips through Los Angeles.

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How Global Warming may Cause the Next Ice Age

• http//www.crawford2000.co.uk/iceage.htm

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Elements that can be used

• Larsen Ice Shelf B
• North Atlantic Current
• Glacial Maximum
• Impacts of Climate Change
• International Efforts in Climate Change

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Reasons for the Collapses of Larsen B Ice Shelf
in Antarctica

• Strong climate warming in the region
• The incremental rate of warming is approximately
  0.5 degrees Celsius per decade
• The relation between ice-shelf viability and
  meltwater ponds
• Depending on the internal strength of the ice,
  water-filled crevasses as shallow as 15 feet
  could fracture through a 660-foot-thick ice
  shelf.

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Reasons for the Collapses of Larsen B Ice Shelf
in Antarctica
Flow Chart of how climate warming leads to the
collapses
More ice on Antarctica ice shelves melt into
standing water ponds
Warmer surface temperatures during summers
Leak into cracks and crevasses
Crack ice shelves causing portions to float away
and eventually melt.
Increase in pressure
Enlarges the cracks and crevasses
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In the movie

• A dramatized version of the breaking ice shelf.
• Lets examine the real breaking off.

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31 Jan 2002

• Sequence of events
• 2
• 4
• 5

5 Mar 2002
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     Edge parallel crevasses indicate future
calving. Photo courtesy of S. Tojeiro, Fuerza
Aerea Argentina, 13 March 2002.
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View from east to west nunataks Grey, Bruce, and
Bull. Photo courtesy of Pedro Skvarca, Instituto
Antártico Argentino, 13 March 2002.
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Photo from the deck of the British Research
vessel, "James Clark Ross" on or about 8 March
2002. The bergs in the background are about 25 m
high. Photo courtesy of Keith Nicholls, British
Antarctic Survey.
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How much was lost?

• Just how much ice is that?
• area of ice lost in 2002
• 3275 square kilometers
• volume of ice lost
• 720 cubic kilometers
• 0.0024 of all Antarctic ice
• handy scales of reference
• 29 trillion bags of party ice

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Consequences

• The Landsat images show the Hektoria Glacier
  before the collapse (January 2001), just after
  the collapse (April 2002), and almost one year
  later (February 2003).
• Glacier has now sped up
• Thinning Ice cover
• Increase Ice Cover

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How do we use these footages?

• Bring about an awareness of the consequences of
  Global Warming?
• Explain that global warming cause some weather
  extremes and hence affect local climate Larsen
  B as an example.

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The north Atlantic current

• The North Atlantic drift is a warm current that
  continues the Gulf stream northeast. It splits
  into two west of the British Isles. One branch
  (the Canary current) goes south while the other
  continues north along the coast of northwestern
  Europe where it has a considerable warming
  influence on the climate.
• Role of N Atlantic Current in Global Warming and
  Ice Age??
• What did the movie say?

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What happened in the past?

• Younger Dryas - due to the melting of ice caps
  in the post-Ice Age warming period. As the ice
  crept back towards the polar regions of North
  America, the course of the meltwater began to
  change. Eventually the point was reached when
  large quantities of glacial meltwater suddenly
  started flooding into the seas around
  Newfoundland6. Fresh water and seawater do not
  mix well, and it is believed that the fresh water
  from the melting glaciers interrupted the motion
  of the North Atlantic Drift, the huge current of
  water in the Atlantic Ocean which brings
  temperate conditions to Europe.
• The subsequent cooling occurred incredibly
  quickly - going from mild to freezing cold in no
  more than a decade or two. It appears as if the
  world's climate flipped suddenly over to a new
  stable pattern, and 1300 years later it flipped
  quickly back to temperate conditions for reasons
  not yet fully explained.

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• Northward flowing currents in Southern Ocean
  removes heat
• Adds heat to N. Atlantic
• Suggests that even distant millennial-scale
  oscillation
• Can be driven by N. Atlantic
• As a response to changes in North Atlantic Deep
  Water (NADW) formation
• Response to this forcing can be different in
  different environments
• Can be even opposite

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• During times of NADW formation
• Ice melting dilutes salinity of N. Atlantic
• Eventually slowing or stopping NADW formation
• When NADW does not form
• Less salt removed and little heat transported
  north
• Ice sheets stop melting
• N. Atlantic gets salty and NADW starts to form
  again

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If an ice age forms

• Would it be like the situation in the moive?
• How far did ice extend during the last Glacial
  maximum 18000 years ago?

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Glacial Maximum

• By 18,000 BP, the ice sheet had spread as far
  south as northern Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and
  Illinois.
• This was known as the glacial maximum
• In the movie, it looks like this.

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Impacts of Climate Change

• Global warming may increase the volume of the sea
  and cause slight sea level rise.
• But the predicted rise in sea level by 2030 may
  not be greater than 50 cm.
• Global warming may also cause an ice-age.
• Milder winters and summers, extend snowfall but
  delay thawing.

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Impacts

• Change precipitation and other local climate
  conditions
• Changing regional climate could alter forests,
  crop yields, and water supplies.
• Threaten human health, and harm birds, fish, and
  many types of ecosystems.
• Deserts may expand

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In Summary the impacts include
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere/Cryosphere

• Tropical cyclone
• Heat and cold wave
• Hail, windstorm
• Air pollution
• Heat islands

• Water quality
• Permafrost melting
• Water shortage
• Sea-level rise
• Flooding, landslides
• Fires
• Agriculture/forestry/fisheries/productivity

Lithosphere
Biosphere
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Example of Impact for Asia
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Whats the world doing?

• Kyoto Protocol!
• Whos signed? Who hasnt?
• Lets watch a clip from the movie

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The Convention on Climate Change What does it
say?

• The United Nations Framework Convention on
  Climate Change is the first binding international
  legal instrument that deals directly with climate
  change. The Convention was adopted on 9 May 1992.
• The Convention's ultimate objective is the
  "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations
  in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent
  dangerous anthropogenic interference with the
  climate system."

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Kyoto Protocol

• The Kyoto Protocol is a document signed by about
  180 countries at Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997.
• The protocol commits 38 industrialized countries
  to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases
  between 2008 to 2012 to levels that are 5.2 per
  cent below 1990 levels.

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UNFCCC and Kyoto

• The United Nations Framework Convention on
  Climate Change signed in Rio in 1992 established
  broad guidelines for climate change policy but
  only legal obligation was to report emissions by
  country
• The Kyoto protocol established mandatory, phased
  emission reduction targets to below 1990 levels
  but only for industrialized (Annex I) countries
• Is Singapore a signatory??

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What can you do?

• http//www.sec.org.sg
• http//www.street-directory.com/sec/

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Bonus Materials!

• You can use other movies such as those by BRIAN
  POP to augment your teaching resources!!

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What has it been so far

• Using movies to think about how we can better
  teach Physical Geography
• Resources that differentiate between real life
  Geography and Hollywood Geography
• Learnt something new about Physical Geography