The 2010 Atlantic Hurricane season started on June 1, and it is forecast to be an extremely active one. One recent event that has people concerned with the season is that the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster is continuing. What will happen when the oil meets a hurricane? Personally, I think this is the going to be the largest science fair project of all time. In a 2005 article in Popular Science magazine, it was suggested that by spreading oil on the water in advance of a hurricane, we might be able to reduce its power. We might just find out whether that is true or not. (Personally, I think not.)
Among the necessary ingredients for hurricanes is sufficiently warm ocean temperatures, typically above approximately 28 degrees Celsius (about 82 degrees Fahrenheit). This color-coded image from Japan’s Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) flying on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows sea surface temperatures across the equatorial Atlantic Ocean and part of the Pacific Ocean at the beginning of the 2010 season. Waters that are warm enough to promote hurricane formation appear in shades of yellow to orange-red. Waters too cool to foster hurricane formation appear in shades of blue.
via Sea Surface Temperatures at the Start of 2010 Hurricane Season : Image of the Day.
