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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Understanding Hurricanes: Shaping Our Future
Each season, hurricanes cause
social and economic impacts to our daily lives and influence our
responses in protecting ourselves from these natural disasters.
According to hurricane expert, Kerry Emanuel, these tropical
cyclones, often catastrophic when they occur, can also help
regulate the earth’s climate.
Dr. Kerry A. Emanuel, professor of
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), will present "Recent Progress in
Understanding Hurricanes" at a colloquium at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday,
Sept. 12, at NASA Langley's H.J.E. Reid Conference Center.
Media Briefing: A media
briefing will be held at 3 p.m. at the H.J.E. Reid Conference
Center, 14 Langley Blvd., at NASA Langley Research Center.
Media who wish to attend should contact Kimberly Land at
(757) 864-9885.
Emanuel will examine some of the
most important hurricanes in American history and discuss their
roles in our social and economic climates. He will give an
overview of hurricane physics and some recent practical and
theoretical developments in discovery of "hypercanes" and the
theory that these storms were probably brought on by asteroid
impacts and may have contributed to the extinction of the
dinosaurs.
Formerly the director of
MIT’s Center for Meteorology and Oceanography, Emanuel’s
research interests include the dynamics and energetics of tropical
cyclones and their genesis and steering, and cloud and water vapor
feedback in the climate system. He received his bachelors in
Earth Science and a doctorate in Meteorology, both from MIT.
As an international authority on hurricanes, Emanuel has
authored or co-authored over 85 scientific publications.
NOTE TO EDITORS: NASA
Langley Research Center has developed a new Global Positioning
System (GPS) remote sensing system for use aboard NOAA Hurricane
Hunter planes. Officials hope the GPS reflection system will
improve storm track forecasting and provide support to the National
Hurricane Center in Miami. Dr. Stephen Katzberg, from NASA
Langley's Spacecraft and Sensor Branch, recently briefed NOAA staff
at Florida's MacDill Air Force Base on the GPS flight instrument.
Katzberg will be available to the media at the 3 p.m.
briefing and immediately following the colloquium.
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