Group Member Evaluation

Sebin Han.

Sebin joined our group later on and has been a consistently hard worker since then. Sebin as been a pleasure to work with and helped us all with the information required to complete our maps. Sebin was in charge of the El Nino and La Nina fact sheets and I believe has done a good job explaining the two weather conditions and two natural disasters caused by this.

Jake Hanlon

Jake was my original partner and has been with me from day one. He took on the role of making the two maps of La Nina has has done a fantastic job with those two. He has been a pleasure to work with and has completed his maps efficiently and effectively, explaining the effects of La Nina to Australia and the World in detail.

Concerns.

On Wednesday I was not able to come into contact with Sebin or Jake, and that led to some confusion

How many parts of the project have I completed

World El Nino Map - Not Complete
Australian El Nino Map - Not Complete
World La Nina map- Not Complete
Australian La Nina Map - Complete
El Nino Fact Sheet - Complete
La Nina Fact Sheet - Complete

Study Questions

1. How many hectopascal (hPa) is the high over the Eastern side of Australia?
1032 Correct 
2. What LARGE part of Australia is experiencing rain?
Western Australia Correct
3. Give the approximate location of the centre of the high on the east coast?
37 S 141 E (Use Latitude and Longitude describing locations)
4. How would you compare the speed of the wind for Australia to New Zealand?
The wind speed in New Zealand is much higher than in Australia 1/2 Right (The isobars are closer around New Zealand, so the wind speed is higher)
5. What month has the warmest temperature?
July Wrong (Red line at the top of chart is temperature) Correct Answer = May
6. What hemisphere is this city in?
Southern Hemisphere
7. What month has the highest rainfall?
July Correct
8. What is the average temperature and rainfall for November?
27.5 Degrees (Temperature)  80 mm (Rainfall) Correct
9. What latitude do you think this city is at? Why?

Questions 2.5

1. Tropical cyclones are intense low-pressure systems that form over warm oceans.
2. Tropical cyclones usually form over the northern areas of Australia.
3. Western Australia and the Northern Territory
4. 6
5. Hurricanes and Typhoons
6. Tropical cyclones develop in the tropical regions of the world. Heat from the sun causes warm, moist air to rise into the atmosphere. As the air rises, a low pressure system forms and condensation occurs, which releases latent heat causing the air to rise further into the atmosphere. If the air pressure in the upper atmosphere is high, then the rising column of warm air will spiral outwards in the upper atmosphere and air will rush from the surface to replace it, forming a tropical cyclone.
7. The eye of a cyclone is the centre, and is usually calm with a clear sky.
8. When a tropical cyclone moves away from the tropics and into cooler oceans they start to lose energy as the hot air dissipates, and so they are downgraded to tropical storms. 

Questions 2.4

1. A flood is when water inundates land which is normally dry.
2. Flash flooding is when small river or streams are unable to cope with all the water all at once so they overflow and flood. Urban areas are not normally prepared for flooding or flash flooding, and so can suffer greatly.
3. Inland rivers- These are subject to flooding which often covers thousands of square km's and can be devastating for farmers and their crops. Coastal Rivers- These floods are short and fast flowing, and they generally only last for a couple of hours or days.
4. Houses could be destroyed. People could be killed. Produce could be washed away or destroyed.
5. Water had already filled the rivers and catchments around Katherine, so almost all the water overflowed and flooded Katherine.
6.  Economic- 500 Business's we're evacuated or destroyed. Environmental- Crops would have washed away. Social- 4 people died.
7. A) Inland Catchment- slight gradient  Coastal Catchment- steep gradient. B) Slight Gradient to Steep Gradient. C) The water would run towards the steeper gradient, because when it is flat there isn't anywhere to go.
8. Dams are normally used to control the amount of water in a river or catchment and can also supply water to an area. Dams influence inland river because they keep the water level under control, but if they overflow could also cause the river to overflow, causing a flood.
9. The flood came in faster than I could have imagined. I wasn't ready as it swept down the streets, quickly filling up the first floor with muddy water. I couldn't get to my car for it was underwater. I ran out onto my balcony and saw the town square flooded, with water gushing down the streets. It was sweeping down the street, washing cars and people away.

Questions 2.3

1.  Hail with diameter 2cm or more, wind gust of 90km per hour, flash flooding
2. Severe storms usually affect small suburbs rather than big cities
3. Warm humid air is pushed upward into the atmosphere by wind.
4. 'Latent heat' is when warm, humid air is pushed upwards by wind. The moisture releases latent heat which makes the air more buoyant, which allows the water to rise higher and freeze, often forming ice crystals and hail.
5. The Anvil Head
6. The Outflow
7. The Bureau of Meteorology issues the warnings and these warnings are developed by the bureau of Meteorology's weather radars.
8. Severe storms remain a highly unpredictable natural hazard because we cannot really predict them or see them coming until they are happening or just about to happen.
9. A) 13 November 2006 1:14 PM  B) Kurri Kurri, Lochinvar, Nelson Bay and Anna Bay  C) 2:10 PM  D) I would make sure to evacuate everyone from the school and if that cannot be done move into a classroom or building with no windows and hold up until the storm finishes.

Questions 2.8

1. A) estimate the air pressure of:
           i) 1016
           ii) 1012
           iii) 1020
           iv) 1018

    B) Adelaide
    C) Melbourne can expect sunny skies with minimal cloud cover and no chance of rain
    D) i) A low pressure tough
         ii) Wind and precipitation moving from Southern Australia (Adelaide) up to central Australia and Port Headland  
         iii) low pressure trough
    E) Hobart would have the strongest winds because the isobars on the synoptic chart are closer near Hobart than they are at Sydney.