When a hurricane reaches land, it typically weakens. However, a tropical cyclone passing over warm, waterlogged ground can gain a surge of energy that revitalizes its intensity, as researchers revealed at the American Meteorological Society’s meeting in Baltimore in January. By analyzing satellite data on wind speeds, rainfall, and soil moisture, geologist Dev Niyogi and his team found that Hurricane Florence, initially a relatively weak storm, intensified as it passed over already-soaked soil, resulting in unprecedented rainfall and flooding. This observation provides one of the first confirmations of the long-theorized brown ocean effect, which can prolong the strength of storms as they move over land, allowing them to penetrate further inland before dissipating. The concept of the brown ocean effect was first proposed in 2013 by atmospheric scientist Marshall Shepherd and geographer Theresa Andersen, inspired by the unusual behavior of Tropical Storm Erin in 2007, which unexpectedly strengthened as it encountered flooded ground while drifting northwest toward Oklahoma.
2024-02-29 08:00:00
Originally from www.sciencenews.org