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How Do Gustav and Other Hurricanes Get Born? NASA Videos Explain the Life Cycle of Hurricanes
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Dr. Jeffrey Halverson/NASA
Are you wondering how --and why-- Atlantic hurricanes like Gustav are born and what makes the difference in their life cycles? Has the last decade has brought larger and more powerful storms? NASA has the answer to those questions, presented in a series of short videos for use in classrooms or at home.
NASA hurricane expert Dr. Jeffrey Halverson breaks the science of hurricanes down into one to four-minute long sessions. The clips include a wide range of illusrations made from NASA satellite images.
The resource is easy to use. A short index for each topic describes the topic, the type of illustrations used,, and the links to other resrouces.
The videos can be watched in your browser or via QuckTime. You can also download media from the website.
Dr. Halverson has traveled the world's tropical latitudes to better understand how intense storms of rain and wind develop and intensify. He has spent months in Brazil, Australia, the South China Sea, Costa Rica, the Marshall Islands and various locations in the Caribbean studying tropical weather systems.
Dr. Halverson's research examines the atmospheric factors that cause hurricanes to rapidly change intensity. In 2001, he helped pioneer a new atmospheric measuring system that became the first to take direct measurements in the eye of a mature hurricane from an altitude of 70,000 feet.
He's currently the Associate Director-Academics at the Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) and also Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). He worked previously in scientific research at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
He also worked at NASA Headquarters, where he helped manage NASA's Tropical Cloud Systems and Processes (TCSP) experiment that occurred in the summer of 2005 to study the birth of hurricanes. Dr. Halverson currently writes a monthly column on severe and unusual weather for Weatherwise Magazine, has authored more than 25 professional papers and has appeared in hurricane specials on The Discovery Channel and NOVA.
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