1 / 21

Tornados and Climate Change

Tornados and Climate Change. Michael Pateman And Drew Vankat. Introduction. Investigation of tornadic frequency and magnitude in the United States in relation to the El Nino/Southern Oscillation and US climate change. Hypothesis.

nora
Download Presentation

Tornados and Climate Change

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Tornados and Climate Change Michael Pateman And Drew Vankat

  2. Introduction • Investigation of tornadic frequency and magnitude in the United States in relation to the El Nino/Southern Oscillation and US climate change

  3. Hypothesis • Global warming, along with increased El Nino and La Nina cycles mean more plentiful and powerful tornadoes • But…What role does technology play in increased detection?

  4. Research Relevance • If a relationship with climate cycles can be found, perhaps emergency funding can be set aside in advance for victims • Findings can be translated to other weather phenomena such as thunderstorms, flooding, or hurricanes • Authorities can take necessary precautions to minimize economic and human losses • Provide a more convincing argument for the need to rethink the way we treat our environment.

  5. What is a tornado? • An intense, rotating column of air extending from the base of a thunderstorm cloud to the ground. www.spc.noaa.gov

  6. ENSO • The ENSO (El Nino/ Southern Oscillation) cycle refers to the coherent, large-scale fluctuation of ocean temperatures, rainfall, atmospheric circulation, vertical motion and air pressure across the tropical Pacific. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/

  7. What is El Nino? • A disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific • Development of abnormally warm sea surface temperatures across the eastern tropical Pacific • Consequences can include increased rainfall in some areas and extreme drought in others

  8. What is La Nina? • Characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific • USA: warmer southwest winters, colder Northwest

  9. Materials and methods • Data retrieved on tornado and ENSO activity • Downloaded into Excel, Statview, and Cricket Graph

  10. Tornado Frequency by Decade Spearman Rank Correlation p-values: Texas-Nebraska p=.1096 Texas-Ohio p=.0719 Nebraska-Ohio p=.0719

  11. Frequency of Tornadoes in El-Nino Years Spearman Rank Correlation p-values: Texas-Nebraska p=.4902 Texas-Ohio p=.1837 Texas-USA p=.0170 Nebraska-Ohio p=1983 Nebraska-USA p=.0785 Ohio-USA p=.1223

  12. Tornado Frequency in non-El-Nino Years Spearman Rank Correlation p-values: Texas-Nebraska p=.1096 Texas-Ohio p=.1615 Texas-USA p=.0719 Nebraska-Ohio p=.3173 Nebraska-USA p=.2301 Ohio-USA p=.0719

  13. Tornado Frequency in La Nina Years Spearman Rank Correlation p-values: Texas-Nebraska p=.0422 Texas-Ohio p=.1474 Texas-USA p=.0376 Nebraska-Ohio p=.1117 Nebraska-USA p=.0751 Ohio-USA p=.0438

  14. Tornado Frequency in non-La-Nina Years Spearman Rank Correlation p-values: Texas-Nebraska p=.0719 Texas-Ohio p=.0719 Texas-USA p=.0455 Nebraska-Ohio p=.1096 Nebraska-USA p=.0719 Ohio-USA p=.0719

  15. Texas Tornado Frequency

  16. Nebraska Tornado Frequency

  17. Ohio Tornado Frequency

  18. Data • http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwEvent~Storms • All Tornado Data downloaded from this site.

  19. Tentative conclusions • Overall increase in tornado frequency • P-values indicate little relationship in frequency for El-Nino years • P-Values indicate a relationship in frequency for La-Nina years

  20. Still To Come… • Spearman Rank Correlations for tornado frequency per year in each state • Analyze magnitude

  21. Future Research • Incorporate climate change and global warming • Any questions or suggestions?

More Related