An essay on Natural Hazard; Storms and Black Saturday, Canberra, 2003

On 18 January 2003, Canberra was hit by the mostdevastating bush tin in its history. Canberrasfirestorm had its beginnings on 8 January, whenlightning strikes in adjacent national parksignited a image of bushfires. Shifting windswidened the fire fronts of these fires, joining someto lollher. Eight years later, unshakable south-westerlywinds drove the bushfire towards the nationalcapital. The fierce winds blew burning embers ahead ofthe fire front, igniting have intercourse fires in and nighhouses on the capitals south-western edge. At times, the shower down of embers blew horizontally. in that respect was little the calciferol firefighters and 100police could do to midriff such a massive blaze. Their realize was made more difficult by thebillowing black eatage (which reduced visibility),by power and water-pressure failures, and by therapid spread of the fires. The conditions in and around Canberra on 18 Januarywere perfect for a firestorm. There was ahuge supply of fuel . (Canberra is sometimes calledthe `bush capital, as it is virtually adjoin bybushland and pine plantations and has a numberof bush/pine corridors.) This fuel was mettle drydue to the prolonged drought. On the day of thefire, very high temperatures, ardent winds andextremely low relation humidity turned theadvancing bushfire into a fireball. The firestorm undo 530 homes Ð somein little more than 10 minutes Ð and slightly30 farms. Four throng lost their lives, as didhundreds of cattle, thousands of sheep andm all thousands of native animals. About12 million trees were destroyed by the ®re. Powerlines exploded and the noteworthy MountStromlo Observatory was burnt down. Aswell as destroying lives, homes and livelihoods,the defile bill was expect to top$280 million. What is a storm?A storm is any violent disturbance of the atmosphereand the effects associated with it. Themain types of storms atomic number 18 electrical storms, tropicalcycl stars, cold fronts and tornadoes (twisters). Inthis section, we look at thund! erstorms and theireffect on peoples activities. A thunderstorm is a storm associated with lightningand thunder and evanesces with cumulonimbusclouds. Cumulonimbus clouds so-and-so occursingly or pull oer an ara of 100 kilometresor more. Thunderstorms occur when cumulonimbusclouds conformation up large static electricityto produce lightning. Lightning at a time heatsthe airmanship through with(predicate) which it travels to about 20 000°Celsius Ð more than trio times as savory as thesurface of the sun. This causes the air to expandso chop-chop that it causes an detonation (thunder). ningand thunder and occurs with cumulonimbusclouds. Cumulonimbus clouds can occursingly or extend over an area of 100 kilometresor more. Thunderstorms occur when cumulonimbusclouds build up enough static electricityto produce lightning. Lightning instantly heatsthe air through which it travels to about 20 000°Celsius Ð more than three times as hot as thesurface of the sun. This causes the air to expandso quickly that it causes an explosion (thunder). foul thunderstorms can be a serious naturalhazard because they can lick one or more of thefollowing features:· Hailstones, which are two centimetres or morein diameter· Wind gusts of 90 kilometres or more per time of day· Tornadoes, which are rapidly rotating columnsof air that descend in a funnel-shape fromthunderstorm clouds· real heavy rain, which can result in ¯ alter¯ooding. A thunderstorm often moves slowly,dropping a lot of precipitation in one area. Therain or hail may be in any case heavy and prolongedfor the ground to enlist the moisture. Thewater runs off, quickly ¯ooding local areas. hypertext transfer protocol://members.pcug.org.au/~mdinn/fires/index.htmhttp://www.rmwebed.com.au/geo_2008/canberra.htmlhttp://members.pcug.org.au/~mdinn/fires/index.htmhttp://www.rmwebed.com.au/geo_2008/canberra.html If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website : OrderCustomP! aper.com

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