Scientists predict that hurricanes will hit us harder in the future — but why? And what can we expect to see? In this episode of #TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate), MIT professor Kerry Emanuel joins host Laur Hesse Fisher to break down how these “heat engines” work and how a changing climate will increase hurricane intensity, storm surges, and flooding. They also explore how people around the world are adapting to growing hurricane risks.
Scientists predict that hurricanes will hit us harder in the future — but why? And what can we expect to see? In this episode of #TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate), MIT professor Kerry Emanuel joins host Laur Hesse Fisher to break down how these “heat engines” work and how a changing climate will increase hurricane intensity, storm surges, and flooding. They also explore how people around the world are adapting to growing hurricane risks.
Prof. Emanuel is the Cecil & Ida Green Professor of Atmospheric Science at the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and co-director of the MIT Lorenz Center. He is a prominent meteorologist and climate scientist who studies tropical cyclones. In 2006, he was named by Time Magazine as one of the “100 People Who Shape Our World”.
An educator guide for this episode can be found here: https://climate.mit.edu/educator-guide-til-about-hurricanes
For other climate explanations, check out: www.tilclimate.mit.edu.
Learn more about:
The work of Prof. Emanuel and other hurricane researchers:
Video footage of storm surges (as mentioned by Prof. Emanuel 5:59)
Kerry Emanuel’s explanation for natural sea level rise in New York (As mentioned by Prof. Emanuel 6:30):
Examples of how communities are adapting to hurricanes:
An overview of climate change:
Credits
Special thanks to Tom Kiley and Laura Howells.
Produced by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.