Working Problem Statement: 

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 delivered a valuable lesson on the seriousness of hurricane preparedness. Have cities gone far enough to prepare for atmospheric changes that can lead to hurricanes and the resulting impacts to the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere that hurricanes can cause? In addition, are global climate changes impacting the severity and frequency of hurricanes, and if so, which areas around the world still need improvements in hurricane preparedness?

Team Questions & Answers:

• Are meteorologists better at predicting the path of hurricanes today than they were in the 1900s? There have been considerable advancements made in hurricane preparedness. Specially equipped aircraft can fly into winds to gather crucial data, forecasters have a greater understanding of hurricane behavior, and computer models are much more accurate. All major coastal cities have planned evacuation routes, shelters, and stringent building codes to cope with severe weather. Some of our teammates live/have lived in hurricane prone areas and experience(d) first hand the major changes have occurred in areas of tracking and hurricane preparedness.

• Are current changes to the global climate producing more frequent and severe hurricanes than Earth experienced in the past? A look at the statistics for the amount of hurricanes that have hit the U.S. since 1851 reveals that most decades are fairly consistent around the average of 17.7/decade. In fact recent decades have actually had lower numbers of hurricanes having made landfall in the U.S. Additionally since 1971, the more severe hurricanes of category 3-5 have been below the average of 6/decade. Weather can be forecasted fairly accurately these days but still is very unpredictable.

2007	2008
2009	2010

• Did the changes in air pressure in 1900 produce tornadoes and other serious weather events across the plains?
• How did they rebuild Galveston? Did they raise the sea level of the land? There was a great challenge to rebuild Galveston which included raising the grade for the 500 city blocks from one to ten feet and building a seawall that now spans more than 10 miles of coastline. The seawall is 17 feet tall and provides protection for roughly 1/3 of the island and was key in helping Galveston withstand a Category 3 hurricane in 1915 that had a 16-ft storm surge.
• How were croplands affected by hurricanes? Obviously current crops are destroyed in the hardest hit areas, but is the valuable topsoil transported from coastal regions inland? Do farmers suffer in some areas when trying tor regrow crops and benefit in others, or does the transported sediment end up where it is not wanted?
• What has been documented about the effects on the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere during the 1900 storm? Are my assumptions correct? More research is needed to find out for sure, but quite a lot of documentation has been gathered about the hurricane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane      http://hnn.us/articles/15529.htmlhttp://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/h/hurricanes_and_tropical_storms/galveston_hurricane_1900/index.html
• What changes can we make to improve hurricane preparedness? What can individuals do to prepare? Prior planning is key. Individuals should have a planned evaction route, means to prepare their house, a full tank of gas, hurricane supplies such as food and water, and continually listen for updates from the weather experts. Hurricane Facts and Preparedness
• Do hurricanes cause a salination problem in croplands and wildlife habitats in coastal regions impacted by seawater flooding? When looking at a recent hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, rice crops dropped by 20 percent due to saltwater intrusion. Soil and waterways were contaminated by saltwater and thus crops could not be planted in normal areas. The only way to prevent this is to increase protection from water such as increased levees.
• Was poor construction a contributing factor in the high number of fatalities associated with the 1900 Galveston hurricane?
• Was the population density/concentration different than it is today in the affected area? 
• How was the devastation and destruction created by the 1900 Galveston hurricane assessed?  By what measure?
• Was there any possible way to have warned the population and evacuated the people living in the affected area?  Would it have been another Katrina (but in the past)? In 1900 the U.S. Weather Bureau were predicting the path the hurricane would follow and had begun to track it was early as August 30, 8 days before it hit Galveston on September 8, 1900. When the storm had passed Key West on September 6, they were convinced it would continue northeast but they were incorrect as the storm continued west and gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico. It wasn't until September 7 that the local weather office had begun to warn locals by flying the hurricane warning flags. Due to a lack of effective forecasting and communication, the hurricane resulted in comple devestation to the city of Galveston and its residents.
• Are current evacuation plans effective?
• Does Galveston use contraflow? The haven't used it yet, but they do plan on using it in the event of a major hurricane threat to the area. http://www.gcoem.org/content/view/16/207/
• Are people especially those communities that live in areas where hurricanes hit the most aware of the dangers that come along with hurricanes? Over the past several years, U.S. hurricane warning systems (National Weather Service (NWS) have provided adequate time for people on barrier islands and the immediate coastline to move inland when hurricanes threaten. However, due to rapid population growth, it is becoming more difficult to evacuate people from the barrier islands and other coastal areas because roads have not kept pace with the expansion. The problem is further compounded by the fact that 80 to 90 percent of the population now living in hurricane-prone areas have never experienced the core of a "major" hurricane. Many of these people have been through weaker storms. The result is a false impression of a hurricane's damage potential. This often leads to complacency and delayed actions, which could result in the loss of many lives.
• Do people have plans on what actions to take in case of a hurricane and the hazards that come with them e.g. high winds, tornadoes, storm surge, floods. Some people are prepared and have plans on what actions to take during a hurricane threat, but others especially those new to living in coastal areas aren't aware of the serious dangers of hurricanes.
• Do the cities along the coast have disaster plans in place (e.g. evacuations routes established, shelters, etc.)? Hurricanes are a natural phenomenon and there is little that humans can do to stop or weaken the hurricanes, but the number of fatalities can definitely can be reduce by proper planning and advance warning. "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Tropical Prediction Center and National Weather Service (NWS) field offices team up with other federal, state, and local agencies; rescue and relief organizations; the private sector; and the news media in a huge warning and preparedness effort." http://www.disastercenter.com/guide/hurricane.html 
• Are there levees in place in the areas where hurricanes tend to make landfall? Levees are built to help contain or control the flow of water to reduce the risk of flooding. The United States has thousands of miles of levee systems in place.
• Are these levees in good condition, are they maintained on a regular basis? Levees require maintenance on a regular basis so that they don't fail, but they also need to be constructed and designed properly to avoid failure. An example of levee failures are those that occurred during hurricane Katrina. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_levee_failures_in_Greater_New_Orleans

Hurricanes are part and parcel of life—both past and present—on the Gulf Coast.  Between warm waters, peninsulas and coastlines that jut out into that very temperate Gulf of Mexico (Florida, Louisiana), and marshy barrier islands that are “sitting ducks”, these natural factors offer an invitation to tropical weather systems to both strengthen and strike.  In the case of hurricanes like Katrina, Wilma, and the 1900 Galveston hurricane, what was a “natural” occurrence became quite unnatural, with devastating losses of life and property. 

Recommendation:

I do not think there is any way to analyze a specific causation for the 1900 Galveston hurricane, but an analysis of recent hurricanes like Katrina could yield some factors worthy of consideration.

One of these possible causes or aggravating factors to think about is the increase in both sea surface temperatures (SST) and the increase in overall global temperature (global warming).  Hurricanes need and feed on warmer temperatures.  There is a belief that increases in surface sea temperatures have led to the increase in hurricane severity and duration (Cohen, 2006).  The increase in sea surface temperatures, some believe, may be attributable to global warming.  And the blame for global warming, some say, lies squarely on the doorstep of the human population and its actions.   

While hurricanes like the one that struck Galveston in 1900 cannot be eliminated, the increase in the strength, severity, and duration of hurricanes has led some to believe human actions leading to global warming have caused this uptick. My recommendation is that worldwide governments should institute reforms and control measures that will work to bring down global temperatures that foster the growth and severity of these storms.

Works Cited

Cohen, C. (2006). “Stronger Hurricanes”. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/stronger-hurricanes.html on September 25, 2011.

Heller, T.(2009).  “Do Hurricanes Affect Global Warming, Which Can Affect Hurricanes?” (blog entry). Retrieved from http://weatherblog.abc13.com/2009/04/do-hurricanes-a.html  on September 25, 2011.

Kieper, M. (2006). “Katrina’s Storm Surge”. Retrieved from http://www.wunderground.com/education/Katrinas_surge_contents.asp on September 25, 2011.

NASA (2003). “How Are Hurricanes Created?”. Retrieved from  http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/hurricane/creation.html  on September 25, 2011

NASA (2004). “NASA Data Shows Hurricans Help Plants Bloom in ‘Ocean Deserts’”. Retrieved from            http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2004/0602hurricanebloom.html .

NASA (2005). “Arlene to Zeta: 27 Storms of the 2005 Season”. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0woOxPYJz1U on September 25, 2011.

National Hurricane Center: Hurricane Preparedness. Retrieved from http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/prepare/ on November 3, 2011.

National Hurricane Center: U.S Hurricane Strikes By Decade. Retrieved from http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdec.shtml on November 4, 2011.

NOAA (2007). "The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900". Retrieved from http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/magazine/galv_hurricane/welcome.html#intro on November 4, 2011.

Guillot, C. (2006). "Hurricane Katrina's Ecological Legacy: Lost Swamps, Crops, Islands". Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060823-katrina-ecology.html on November 4, 2011.

NOAA (2011). Storm Surge Overview. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/#IMPACT

FEMA (2011). Living with Levees – It's a Shared Responsibility. http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/lv_intro.shtm

FEMA (2011). FEMA is Revising its Levee Analysis and Mapping Approach. http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/lv_lamp.shtm