Natural catastrofies, incidents and accidents in aviation

We, humans, now dominate the Earth - and our planet is in grave danger of suffering from our activities. But from time to time the Earth threatens us, warns of the danger of killing the planet and ourselves. We have to be very careful what we do with nature, provoking to some extent natural disasters like drought, sandstorm and famine in Africa, flood in Netherlands, hurricanes in the USA, volcanoes and earthquakes in Turkey, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Armenia, typhoons and tidal wakes, landslide and fire. Natural disasters make big problems and people all over the world come to help regions where the catastrophe has happened. Different countries send to the area of the natural disaster food and medical supplies, as well as doctors, nurses, blankets, tents and clothes.

Thunderstorms. Moisture, instability and lift are the three main ingredients needed: rain, strong, accompanied by bright flashes of lightning and the crack of thunder - a thunderstorm is born. There are more that 40.000 thunderstorms happening around the world everyday. The most severe thunderstorm can produce hail and spawn tornadoes. Thunderstorms may last from 15 minutes to several hours.

Whirling winds. Tornadoes or twisters can occur in almost every part of the world, however, the greatest number and some of the most severe occur in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

This part of the United States is nicknamed: “Tornado Alley”.

Tornadoes usually occur with the most severe of all thunderstorms called super cells. Winds from tornado range from 40 to more than 261 mph and the funnel or vortex, extends from the base of a cumulonimbus cloud to the ground. The intensity of damage from the storm winds to buildings and trees is measured and classified after it has passed.

Tropical storms, known as typhoons in the Pacific and hurricanes in the Atlantic, claim more lives each year than any other storm. Hurricanes are formed from thunderstorms developing over the ocean or sea. Several thunderstorms come together to form a swirl of clouds. As the winds begin to grow, a distinct centre will form in the cloud swirl and this becomes the “eye” of the storm. Massive amounts of rainfall, and even tornadoes are formed as the storm makes landfall. The greatest threat to human life is the “storm surge” that follows the hurricane. After making landfall hurricanes turn into low-pressure systems or “rain depressions” which often bring heavy rains to inland areas and cause widespread flooding.

Precipitation occurs when some of the millions of tiny water droplets or ice crystals than constitute a cloud grow large enough and heavy enough to fall to the earth.

Rain, hail, sleet and snow are all forms of precipitation.

Precipitation that reaches the ground in liquid form is often referred to as rain. The lightest form is drizzle, which occurs as fine drops falling closely together. Mist is even finer and does not fall, so therefore is considered a light form of fog.

Precipitation is also classified as intermittent or steady.

Usually steady rain and snow fall from clouds such as stratus or altostratus. Showers or intermittent precipitation will fall from cumulus clouds.

Changing Weather. Mark Twain once said “The weather is always doing something..... always getting up new designs and trying them on the people to see now they will do”.

Weather is blue skies, and puffy white clouds; torrential rains with gale force winds; twisters; flashes of lighting; or snow gently falling to the ground. The weather is the state of the atmosphere at any given time, it is experienced everywhere on the Earth, it varies considerably from place to place, day to day, and season to season.

The long-term look at the weather in a place or region, the averaging of rainfall, the maximum and minimum temperatures is called climate. Climate in addition to the “averages” in the weather also includes the occurrences and frequencies of “extremes” in the weather.

Volcanic eruptions can also have an effect on world climate. Erupting volcanoes, although not a frequent occurrence, can emit huge quantities of gases and fine debris into the atmosphere causing shorts-term effects on the weather. For instance, the eruption in June 1991 of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines caused average temperatures worldwide to fall by 1°F (0.6°C) over a 12-month period. Another effect is in the orange and red colours of a sunrise or sunset. The colours are intensified by the smoke and ash of an erupting volcano.

Natural catastrophes, being great tragedies, teach us to be merciful to the other people and to our planet - the Earth.

1. Why do we have to be careful about nature?

2. Do countries help each other in case of any catastrophe?

3. How do countries help each other in case of any catastrophe?

4. What is a thunderstorm?

5. Are tornadoes very dangerous?

6. What can you tell us about typhoons?

7. What is the greatest threat to human life?

8. Why the phenomenon of “storm surge” is so dangerous?

9. What do you know about precipitations?

10. What forms of precipitation have you ever watched?

11. How do they form?