The potential for a gliding UAV to sustain flight by dynamically soaring in a hurricane is investigated. Leveraging extensive storm observations, the wind profile of the hurricane eye is modeled as a continuous function that is zero at the center and increases as a power of the radius. We then derive the equations of motion for a UAV flying in this wind field, and prove analytically that if the...

.......................................................................................................................... iii About the Author..............................................................................................................iv A Note on Order Statistics and Property Losses from Catastrophic Hurricanes and Floods in the USA ..............................................

Recent, global mass-mortalities of reef corals due to record warm sea temperatures have led researchers to consider global warming as one of the most significant threats to the persistence of coral reef ecosystems. The passage of a hurricane can alleviate thermal stress on coral reefs, highlighting the potential for hurricane-associated cooling to mitigate climate change impacts. We provide evi...

During tropical storms, precipitation and associated rainfall-runoff can lead to significant flooding, in both the upland coastal areas. Flooding areas is compounded by storm surge. Several hurricanes recent history have exhibited destructive force of compound flooding due precipitation, rainfall-runoff, surge waves. In previous work, various coupled modeling systems been developed model total ...

About the author: I am currently working on the Gulf Coast in the division of general pediatrics at the University of TexasMedical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. In the 1970s I attended medical school at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. After that I went to UTMB for my general pediatrics residency. I practiced general pediatrics in Longview, Texas, for 32 years afterward. I served as pre...

Every year, hurricanes cause a lot of damage, especially, when they hit cities along the coast line. A notorious example is Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which hit New Orleans and damaged the city significantly. Human intervention cannot change the path of a hurricane. Hence the best possible way to reduce the damage is to predict the path of the hurricane and avoid direct contact. The formation, m...

CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) have guidance and technical materials available in both English and Spanish to help communities prepare for hurricanes and floods (Table 1). To help protect the health and safety of the public, responders, and clean-up workers during response and recovery operations from hurricanes and floods, CDC and ATSDR have developed publ...

The recent loss of lives and traffic jams (Figure 1) for tens of miles as hurricanes Rita and Katrina approached the Gulf coast demonstrate the enormous difficulty in evacuating urban areas [6]. Besides hurricanes, evacuation may be necessary due to other potential disasters, e.g., fire, terrorism, and nuclear or chemical plant accidents. Thus, the local emergency management community engages i...

Coastal hurricanes create tremendous environmental change and generate huge financial losses. The relative infrequency of severe coastal hurricanes implies that empirical probability estimates of the next big catastrophe will be unreliable. Here we model hurricane activity and resulting insured losses using extreme value theory and Bayesian models. The occurrence of a hurricane above a specifie...