Fires, Floods, and Droughts: Impacts of Climate Change in the U.S.

“Climate change is the Everest of all problems, the thorniest challenge facing humankind”

-- Lewis Gordon Pugh

Introduction and Rationale

Humanity faces an unprecedented global climate crisis within the next turn of the century. A myriad of climate data (i.e., increased sea surface temperatures, rate of CO₂ emissions, decline in arctic sea ice cover) suggests a climatic shift towards warmer global average temperatures coupled with a greater propensity for extreme weather events. The potential economic and humanitarian consequences threaten our global infrastructure and our children’s future, with the most adverse consequences affecting vulnerable populations. It is imperative that students are educated on the complex dynamics of the ongoing current climate shift and the potential socioeconomic outfalls that could arise. One area of concern is the damage and hazard associated with future tropical cyclones. Between 1980 and 2021 tropical cyclones caused over 1.1 trillion dollars in damages in the United States alone. ¹ The economic impact of extreme weather events and the displacement of communities from those events is becoming far too common and costly. Along the east coast of the United States, cities are being impacted by tidal surges and rainfall from large weather systems that have historically remained in the southern states. Since 1842 only 18 hurricanes have impacted the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) however this frequency could change with the onset of a warmer environment. ² This unit seeks to unravel the physics associated with these changing phenomena by examining the development of tropical cyclones using thermodynamic principles. Students will (1) investigate correlations between surface sea-level temperatures and hurricane intensity, or frequency; (2) analyze the conditions required for cyclogenesis to take place through the lens of the first and second law of thermodynamics and (3) predict future outcomes of tropical cyclone intensity and frequency under climate change in the Atlantic basin give historical data, projected models, and fundamental mechanisms grounded in thermodynamics. The goal of this unit is to provide an application of thermodynamic principles associated with energy transfer that may have consequential impacts on my students’ future. Understanding the mechanism associated with heat-exchange coupled with weather development may allow them to grasp additional nuances associated with climate change which will better prepare them for a tumultuous future.