Evacuation was strongly recommended for areas along the Gulf from Louisiana to Florida, though some residents refused to evacuate the area. On August 17, 1969 Camille made landfall producing the highest storm surge ever recorded in the Unites States and had winds sustained around 190 mph. One such factor contributing to the Camille's freakish strength could have been the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico. The Loop Current is quite difficult in forecasting in that there is no set pattern or location to which the current runs. Within the Loop Current there is warm water that extends fairly deeper than the water surrounding it.
Atolls, on the other hand, are formed far offshore and they make a ring-shaped reef that close a circular lagoon. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on the planet. The largest structure is the Great Barrier Reef covering over 2,000 kilometers along the east coast of Australia. The reef is said to be 500,000 to 2,500,000 years old. Besides global warming there is another problem with this beautiful structure and that is the result of several local natural and human factors such as over fishing.
At North Cronulla concrete footpaths were built on existing sand dunes. However, the natural process of sand erosion caused by the waves hitting the beach undermined the pathways and they started to collapse. To halt the erosion large river stones were placed underneath the length of the path to create a base on which interlocking honeycomb shaped bricks were concreted into place. A continuous sloping retainer wall was built that is approximately 330 metres long. The retainer wall has remained in place because it withstands the continual flow of water and wind erosion.
deep) off the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico all the way down to Brazil, in the Amazonian River Basins, around the islands of Cuba, Haiti and Puerto Rico, as well as along the central west and east coasts of Africa, up the Nile and down to Madagascar. The West Indian/Florida manatees currently inhabit the warm sub-tropical waters along the coast of Florida (as far north as the Carolinas and west along the coast of Louisiana and Texas). Though their range is quite large, manatees today exist in only a few small populations due to centuries of hunting them for meat and hides, coastal development and boating, and environmental changes. It is currently estimated that there are only about 2,200 manatees remaining in the US. They have no natural enemies except man and power boats which are responsible for most manatee deaths- (in 1990, 218 manatees or 12 % of the total population were killed by boats), though the red tide (toxins released from the bloom of dinoflagellates) of 1982 and1996 killed over 15% of the population.
Solar radiation has been suspected to play a role in coral bleaching. The consequent exposure to high or low temperatures, increased solar radiation, desiccation, and sea water dilution by heavy rains could all play a role in zooxanthellae loss, but could also very well lead to coral death. -Fresh water dilution Rapid dilution of reef waters from storm-generated precipitation and runoff has been demonstrated to cause coral reef bleaching. Generally, such bleaching events are rare and confined to small, near-shore areas. Nearly all of the world’s major coral reef regions (Caribbean/western Atlantic, eastern Pacific, central and western Pacific, Indian Ocean, Arabian Gulf, Red Sea) experienced some degree fo coral bleaching and mortality during the 1980s.
Wind and waves have a huge impact on beach erosion they are shaping and reshaping the beaches daily, almost as if that’s their responsibility. Taking sand from the beach and moving it out to sea. The waterline just seems to be getting closer and closer than it was the day before (Kaufman and Pilkey 25-8). Waterlines are in a continuous rise and winds are working away at sand dunes. With cameras to survey the beaches, the sand is blown back and forth all around the beaches rising one side of the beach and lowering the other.
• LOCATION: Coral reefs tend to grow where there is a lot of water movement, bringing nutrients, oxygen and new species. Most reef-building corals cannot grow in waters shallow enough to expose them at high tide or deeper than 50 meters, making them highly sensitive to changing sea levels. Most of the coral reefs are situated off the eastern coast of Africa, off the southern coast of India, in the Red Sea, off the coasts of northeast and northwest Australia and on to Polynesia. Additionally, there are also coral reefs off the coast of Florida, USA, to the Caribbean, and down to Brazil. • HOW THEY ARE FORMED: A coral polyp is an invertebrate animal.
These reefs play a very significant role in the overall health and nutrition of their marine environment as wells as, the entire planet. One of the major regions of coral reef systems is the tropical western Atlantic. This reef system spans from Bermuda in the north to Brazil in the south and includes the whole Caribbean Sea. Corals have been found throughout the entire world’s oceans; however, hermatypic coral, type of reef producing coral, are only found in the tropics (Bertness and Nybakken, 2005). Coral reefs are always found in tropical waters mainly due to their need for sunlight.
The Effects of Hurricanes Hurricanes also known as Cyclones are amongst the strongest storms on earth, which have plagued man for centuries. Jay Barnes confirms this timeline, with this passage “They are called hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere, a term probably derived from ‘Hurukan,’ the name of the Mayan storm god, and other similar native Caribbean words translated as ‘evil spirit’ or ‘big wind’.” ( 6). Every year, in the summer season, these forces of nature begin to form themselves sometimes less numerous then the year before and sometimes in greater numbers witnessed in a decade. For future reference hurricanes are often named, not only to keep track of them but also people that have experienced them, tend to remember these storms by their name. They are born from tropic waters that affect quite a few across the world but in the Gulf of Mexico they tend to wreak particular havoc.
This would explain why the island (thought to be due to a mud volcano) appeared off the coast of Pakistan this fall at about the same time as the large earthquake. Seismic waves of larger earthquakes are thought to trigger subsequent mud volcano eruptions up to a year after the event. The role the seismic waves play is not yet fully understood. Other tectonic activity, sedimentary loading due to rapid sedimentation, and continuous hydrocarbon accumulation are said to also control the occurrence of mud volcanoes. On a