The+Dissipation+Of+Hurricanes

What causes hurricanes to dissipate? A Hurricane/ tropical storm can last days or just hours depending on its factors and sources of energy to support the storm. The dissipation of a hurricane is mainly a result from natural causes.

· Movement from water to land- For a hurricane to move there must be a source of heat/energy continuously feeding it which maintains the rising currents of air up the storm. There are many factors which occur in the dispersion of a hurricane, especially when their path crosses land areas. Hurricanes form over warm ocean waters because they are powered by latent heat energy which is released from condensation; this feeds energy to the hurricane, they need this supply of heat energy constantly to survive. As a hurricane moves onto land from the ocean its energy source from the currents and the evaporation it depends on for energy to feed it are lost, also if the storm moves over cold water energy is lost and the hurricane slowly dissipates. Once the hurricane reaches land friction causes it to lose its energy, this affects the strength of the hurricane which then rapidly demises it and causes it to slowly die. Once the storm has slowly decreased over land and almost dispersed, the hurricane can cause large masses of rain and potentially flood an area. However when crossing over land if the storm finds water it can absorb it and more energy strengthens the hurricane which then allows it to continue on its path of destruction across land. ;) i was not here fROM BODY · One famous example is Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the storm moved across the land reaching Tennessee were it was downgrading because of its loss of energy through dispersion, however finding the Eastern Great Lakes which it crossed it absorbed the water and energy was recreated, this allowed the hurricane to expand and become very strong creating mass damage and deaths.

· Wind shearing- This is also a natural cause of dispersion of hurricanes. This is a difference in wind speed and direction over a small area across the atmosphere which affects the hurricane path and direction. 1000’s of feet above the surface of the storm the wind shear in the hurricane can kill the energy by taking heat away and slowing the storm down eventually dispersing it. Because it is a combination of winds in direction and speed it can destroy a hurricane by splitting it and sending it in different directions. With increasing wind power from the ‘wind shear’ this sucks the moisture out of the hurricane and as these tropical storms need humid moist air to feed its energy off, then the dry air ‘chokes’ the storm.

· Dispersion of hurricanes over water- A hurricane that stay’s in the place of its origin in the ocean usually disperses itself however it lasts for much longer. In 1992 Hurricane Tina was the second longest lived storm in the south Pacific, it was active for 24days. Hurricanes which do not move will eventually disperse itself. Because it stays over the same area of water for its lifespan, it continues to evaporate and absorb the same warm waters which will continue in a cycle absorbing the same water, as a result of this the water will eventually get cooler and cooler, and as the storm needs heat from the ocean to feed it the continuous cycle of the same cooler water would create less and less energy for the hurricane eventually leading to dispersion of the storm.

References: Books: David Waugh (2000), Geography, An integrated approach, Third edition. Internet sources: - [|www.physicalgeography.net], tropical weather and hurricanes - [online] //For the people// - http://www.forthepeople.com/hurricane-dissipation-multiple-storm-interaction--12-2148.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpX5U5_08pw