Investigating the Past of Hurricanes Occurring in the Oceanic Depths

Dr. Ed Pope, a renowned geographer, has been appointed as a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Independent Research Fellow, embarking on a groundbreaking project to understand the offshore record of tropical cyclones.

The project, based in the Department of Geography, aims to fill a gap in our understanding of these powerful weather systems. While satellite records of tropical cyclones only date back to the 1970s, their impacts can be felt over hundreds to thousands of kilometers on land. By contrast, the offshore records of tropical cyclones could extend further back in time than terrestrial records.

Dr. Pope's research will focus on using turbidites—deposits from seafloor turbidity currents—to reconstruct histories of tropical cyclones in different regions. Turbidity currents, similar to snow avalanches, are seafloor flows triggered by tropical cyclones.

The project will combine measurements of turbidity currents in action with sediment cores containing past turbidity current deposits. By comparing these two datasets, the project will determine if long-term records of tropical cyclones can be derived for risk mitigation.

Understanding the frequency, intensity, and wider impacts of tropical cyclones is crucial for developing mitigation strategies and understanding our planet. As human-induced climate change is thought to increase the frequency and intensity of the strongest tropical cyclones, this research could not be more timely.

It is expected that the impacts of tropical cyclones will increase during the 21st Century due to human-induced climate change, and socio-economic development is contributing to increased exposure of coastal areas to these impacts. However, this project does not discuss the role of tropical cyclones in global sediment and nutrient cycles, or their impact on atmospheric circulation, focusing instead on the potential for long-term records.

Over the past 50 years, tropical cyclones have caused more than 750,000 deaths and over $1400 billion in economic losses. While the project does not mention the economic losses or death toll caused by tropical cyclones, it is clear that the potential benefits of understanding their history and predicting their future impacts are immense.

In conclusion, Dr. Pope's NERC project promises to shed new light on the offshore record of tropical cyclones, which could provide invaluable data for risk mitigation and climate change research. By understanding the past, we can better prepare for the future.