In this study, the effect of thermodynamic environmental changes on hurricane intensity is extensively investigated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory hurricane model for a suite of experiments with different initial upper-tropospheric temperature anomalies up to 648C and sea surface temperatures ranging from 268 to 318C given the same...

The present study examined survivors' use and misuse of cigarettes and alcohol following Hurricane Katrina. We also examined several psychosocial factors that we expected would be associated with higher or lower rates of substance use following the hurricane. Participants were 209 adult survivors of Hurricane Katrina interviewed in Columbia, SC or New Orleans, LA between October 31, 2005 and Ma...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of serious emotional disturbance (SED) among children and adolescents exposed to Hurricane Katrina along with the associations of SED with hurricane-related stressors, sociodemographics, and family factors 18 to 27 months after the hurricane. METHOD A probability sample of prehurricane residents of areas affected by Hurricane Katrina was administered a tel...

We report initial findings around the Facebook and Twitter adoption trends of 840 fire and police departments affected by Hurricane Sandy. The data show that adoption increased during the time period directly surrounding Hurricane Sandy. Despite this increase, the creation of new online accounts since that time has been declining and overall adoption rates seem to be stabilizing. Lastly, the da...

U nderstanding and mitigating the effects of disasters requires the integration of research and practice in multiple science, engineering, technology, and social science fields to create a world that’s more resilient in terms of public safety, economic strength, and collective welfare. The January/February 2011 issue of CiSE explored hurricane prediction.1 Hurricanes are one of many natural dis...

Little systematic research attention has been devoted to the impact of natural disasters on adolescent substance use. The present study examined relationships among exposure to Hurricane Rita, post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and changes in adolescent substance use from 13 months pre-disaster to seven and 19 months post-disaster. Subjects were 280 high school students in southwestern Louis...

OBJECTIVE Little is known about the effects of disaster exposure and intensity on the development of mental disorders among pregnant women. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of exposure to Hurricane Katrina on mental health in pregnant women. DESIGN Prospective cohort epidemiological study. SETTING Tertiary hospitals in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, U.S.A. PARTICIPANTS Women ...

In studying the dynamics and mechanics that go into the formation of one of the most incredible structures in meteorology, the eye of a hurricane surpasses the ideal weather system. A hurricane, in all definitions, is truly a machine that has puzzled meteorologists and weather-watchers for centuries. Numerous research has been done to study and help predict the paths, intensity, and structure o...

Rapid progress toward the understanding of tropical cyclones has been made during the past 10 years, largely as a result of the development of numerical models. The dynamics and energetics of the mature tropical cyclone are reviewed in this article. First, the pressure, wind, temperature, and moisture structures of the hurricane are summarized. Then a scale analysis is applied over four separat...

[1] The anomalously strong hurricane activity in the Atlantic sector during the recent years led to a controversy about the impact of global warming on hurricane activity in the Atlantic sector. Here we show that the temperature difference between the tropical North Atlantic and the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans (IndoPacific) is a key parameter in controlling the vertical wind shear over t...