weekly warm-ups Complete Friday s questions composition notebook CATASTROPHIC EVENTS Table of Contents

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1 To Do: 1. Get out your weekly warm-ups from last week. Complete Friday s questions and check to make sure all questions are answered before turning it in today. 2.Open your composition notebook to page 3.Title the page CATASTROPHIC EVENTS 4.Add CATASTROPHIC EVENTS to your Table of Contents 5.Wait for further instructions.

2 Notebook Set-up! CATASTROPHIC EVENTS Catastrophic event: biotic: abiotic: disturbance: 2 Types of Catastrophic Events: Naturally Occurring: Human Influence:

3 Non-Living An event that rapidly changes the abiotic and biotic factors in an ecosystem. Living

4 A temporary change in an average environmental condition that causes change to an ecosystem.

5 Some catastrophic events occur as a result of natural forces including: Floods Hurricanes Tornadoes Drought Volcanoes Earthquakes Wildfires Tsunamis Some catastrophic events occur as a result of human influence including: Oil Spills (industrial) Overgrazing Wetland Destruction Wildfires

6 Identify different types of catastrophic events. Know the conditions under which catastrophic events occur or form. Explain negative effects catastrophic events have on people and the environment. Predict and describe how different types of catastrophic events impact ecosystems. Analyze maps and data to assess the likelihood and resulting damage from catastrophic events.

7 Name Date Class Period Catastrophic Events Catastrophic Event: Natural Force or Human Influence? (circle one) Describe the conditions under which this catastrophic event occurs or forms. Explain the negative effects this catastrophic event has on people and the environment. Predict and describe how this catastrophic event impacts ecosystems. Analyze the maps and data to assess the likelihood of this catastrophic event occurring and predict the resulting damage caused by this catastrophic event. Likelihood of Occurrence Resulting Damage - Prediction

8 Peak tornado occurrence is in spring and summer. Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 3 and9 p.m. but have been known to occur at all hours of the day or night.

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11 Hurricane Map

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21 Wildfires

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27 The first ingredient needed for a hurricane is warm ocean water. The second ingredient for a hurricane is wind. As the wind passes over the ocean's surface, water evaporates (turns into water vapor) and rises. As it rises, the water vapor cools, and condenses back into large water droplets, forming large cumulonimbus clouds. When the wind speeds reach 74 mph, the storm is officially a tropical cyclone. The storm is at least 50,000 feet high and around 125 miles across. The eye is around 5 to 30 miles wide. Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land, because they are no longer being fed by the energy from the warm ocean waters. However, they often move far inland, dumping many inches of rain and causing lots of wind damage before they die out completely.

28 Hurricane season in the Atlantic runs from June 1 to November 30.

29 A tsunami is a series of ocean waves caused by an underwater earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption. These waves can reach heights of over 100 ft. About 80% of tsunamis happen within the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire. As a tsunami approaches the shore, water may recede from the coast, if it is shallow enough the water may be pulled back hundreds of meters. If you are in the area, observing this is a good indication that a tsunami is on the way. Tsunamis result in violent flooding, devastating property damage and loss of life. Destruction The amount of energy and water contained in a huge tsunami can cause extreme destruction when it strikes land. Destruction is caused by two mechanisms: the smashing force of a wall of water traveling at high speed, and the destructive power of a large volume of water draining off the land and carrying all with it, even if the wave did not look large. Objects and buildings are destroyed by the sheer weight of the water. Large objects such as ships and boulders can be carried several miles inland before the tsunami subsides. Tsunami waves destroy boats, buildings, bridges, cars, trees, telephone lines, power lines - and just about anything else in their way. Once the tsunami waves have knocked down infrastructure on the shore they may continue to travel for several miles inland, sweeping away more trees, buildings, cars and other man made equipment. Small islands hit by a tsunami are left unrecognizable. The buildings infrastructure in these poorer nations are not well built and cannot withstand the impact of the tsunami. Whole areas and towns are a picture of destruction as the tsunami leaves at trail devastation and misery behind it.

30 Death One of the biggest and worst effects of a tsunami is the cost to human life because unfortunately escaping a tsunami is nearly impossible. Hundreds and thousands of people are killed by tsunamis. The violent force of the tsunami results in instant death, most commonly by drowning. Environmental impacts Tsunamis not only destroy human life, but have a devastating effect on insects, animals, plants, and natural resources. A tsunami changes the landscape. It uproots trees and plants and destroys animal habitats such as nesting sites for birds. Land animals are killed by drowning and sea animals are killed by pollution if dangerous chemicals are washed away into the sea, thus poisoning the marine life.

31 Drought Causes. A prolonged period without rain can cause a region to dry out. Effects of droughts Human activities such as farming, irrigation, or domestic uses of water are normally highly impacted during droughts. Environmental Impacts of Droughts Animal and plants die off as a consequence of drought. Mainly, the damages arise out of extensive destruction of the wildlife habitats and reduction in water quality and quantity. Some plants and animals may completely fail to recover after the drought. The overall climate, the rocks, and soils are also affected, negatively impacting various living and non-living factors. Surface waters such as lakes, rivers, ponds, creeks, streams and lagoons dry out during extended dry conditions which destroy natural habitats. Most especially, aquatic life and other wildlife dependent on these water bodies die or become endangered, destroying the entire food chain and alters the ecosystem. Drought conditions make it unsuitable for plants and vegetation cover to survive. Besides, fertile lands are lost as a result of drought, and in consequence, desertification sets in. Desertification is whereby the lands become infertile and bare, frequently as a result of overgrazing and is exacerbated by drought which makes it difficult for such lands to recover. Animals and wildlife are forced to migrate in drought conditions since they have to move for long distances to get water and food. Droughts also make it difficult for the survival of the animals. When the wildlife and animals migrate, they end up in new locations where they can be vulnerable, endangered because of new threats. This leads to loss of biodiversity and disruption of the natural ecosystems. Some areas can become desert when a drought occurs.

32 Negative Impact on People: Human activities such as farming, irrigation, or domestic uses of water are normally highly impacted during droughts. Crop yields will be very low and farms will have to close production. Local farm produce sellers will have nothing to sell. That will be a DIRECT impact on farmers and sellers. Because farmers closed production, they will not buy farming materials such as seeds, fertilizers, tractors, and so on. That means many more businesses that produce these materials and equipment will also be affected. They will also lose sales and have to lay people off. When people are laid off, they cannot buy things and cannot take care of their families. That is an indirect effect, and it can be even more devastating, complex and long term. Other related problems include crop failure, livestock death, increased forest fires and water shortages.

33 A volcano is a vent in the Earth which allows molten rock (magma) to escape to the surface. When pressure from gases within the magma become too great, an eruption occurs. Once the volcano erupts, the Earth moves to a state of equilibrium until pressure builds again. Eruptions can be slow and fairly quiet or violently explosive. Hazards include searing hot, poisonous gases, lava, and pyroclastic flows, landslides, mudslides, earthquakes, increased fire hazard, explosions, rockslides, flash flooding and tsunamis.

34 When a volcano erupts, people may be killed. Land may be destroyed. Entire species may be eliminated in an area because the eruption either killed them or destroyed their habitat. Erosion can produce scars which continue to grow as more soil is washed from the naked land after an eruption kills the forests, scrubs, and grasses. The ash and gas may cloud the atmosphere so that it is hard to breath, and the sunlight cannot get through. Volcanic ash is very fine glassy rock fragments. It can affect breathing, contaminate water supplies, collapse roofs, disrupt machinery, and cause jet engines to fail while flying.

35 What is an earthquake? Earthquakes are the shaking, rolling or sudden shock of the earth s surface. They are the Earth's natural means of releasing stress. More than a million earthquakes rattle the world each year. The West Coast is most at risk of having an earthquake, but earthquakes can happen in the Midwest and along the East Coast. Earthquakes can be felt over large areas although they usually last less than one minute. Earthquakes cannot be predicted - although scientists are working on it! What causes an earthquake? There are about 20 plates along the surface of the earth that move continuously and slowly past each other. When the plates squeeze or stretch, huge rocks form at their edges and the rocks shift with great force, causing an earthquake. As the plates move they put forces on themselves and each other. When the force is large enough, the crust is forced to break. When the break occurs, the stress is released as energy which moves through the Earth in the form of waves, which we feel and call an earthquake.

36 Earthquakes can effect our lives in many ways. They cause fires that burn buildings to the ground. This effects you because now you have nowhere to live. They also can destroy whole towns. Family members can be trapped under the rubble inside the house. During an earthquake, tsunamis are created and destroy everything in their path at the beach. Earthquakes can destroy settlements and kill many people. Aftershocks can cause even more damage to an area. It is possible to classify the impacts of an earthquake, by taking the following factors into account: Effects are often classified as primary and secondary impacts. Primary effects occur as a direct result of the ground shaking, (buildings collapsing). Secondary effects occur as a result of the primary effects, (tsunamis or fires due to ruptured gas mains).

37 Lightning strikes cause one out of every five wildfires. Wildfires can spread slowly from burning material along the forest floor or spread rapidly by wind causing it to jump along the tops of trees. Drought conditions, wind, high temperatures and low humidity are conditions that help wildfires spread. Wind has the biggest impact on a wildfire. It gives the fire additional oxygen, further dries the fuel, and pushes the fire faster. Wildfires can produce their own winds that can be ten times stronger than the winds around them. A wildfire can destroy millions of acres of forest. Watersheds can have all the vegetation burned off leaving the area prone to erosion. Animals may become endangered due to habitat destruction. The economic losses can impact humans if a fire sweeps through an inhabited area. New plant growth comes back quickly to a burned area. Wildfires are a fundamental process that can be positive and negative in an ecosystem. Fire can be beneficial for maintaining balance in an ecosystem as long as they are properly managed and controlled. Wildfires affect the air quality, water quality, soil composition, vegetation and wildlife in ecosystems.

38 On average, more than 100,000 wildfires, also called wildland fires or forest fires, clear 4 million to 5 million acres of land in the U.S. every year. In recent years, wildfires have burned up to 9 million acres of land.

39 Some scientists studying aquatic plants notice that flooding often leads to a decrease in the rate of photosynthesis among aquatic plants. Flooding causes more sediment to be suspended in the water. The increased sediment concentration decreases the amount of light that reaches the plants. Why does a decreased rate of photosynthesis lead to a decrease in a plant population? A. Less water is available for absorption. B. Less tissue is available for plant growth. C. Less energy is available for reproduction. D. Less soil is available for leaf development.