I understand that hurricanes get their strength from warm ocean water but do they take a measurable amount of heat from the water? ('Not going anywhere with this question, just wondering.)

  • SolidGrue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    951·
    2 months ago

    Yes… -ish. Hurricanes are, in effect, a big heat engine that helps to distribute heat towards the poles from the equator. It is one of Nature’s more efficient heat transfer mechanisms, among natural systems.

    Hurricanes both draw heat from the ocean surface and the atmospheric boundary layer, and eject it into the upper air through convection and the latent heat released through condensation at the expense of warming the upper-mid layers of the atmosphere… The surface level winds mix the sea surface waters into deeper layers, cooling the surface at the expense of warming the uppermost marine layers.

    You don’t, however, get anything for free. On a global scale the heat doesn’t so much dissipate as it does just redistribute. The heat is all still there, it’s just less concentrated in the equatorial surface-level atmospheric and marine layers by being distributed into upper atmospheric layers, deeper marine layers, and higher latitudes. The average temperature integrated across the entire volume of affected regions might be net lower, but not by enough to matter, and the system is still overall warmer than its long term average.

      • Exulion@lemmy.worldEnglish
        91·
        2 months ago

        If we just install giant heat pipes from the equator to the polls. :thinking:

          • Exulion@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            1 month ago

            Sure sure, but what if we didn’t care about how nature did it and did it ourselves. I can’t see a way this could go wrong.

      • Atrichum@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        Look up Atmospheric Vortex Engines. Think giant fire tornados driving turbines. The more realistic designs use waste heat but Popular Science or Mechanics had a story decades ago where someone proposed creating giant fire tornados in the desert.

    • barkingspiders@infosec.pubEnglish
      171·
      2 months ago

      I just want to say how much I appreciate this reply. No idea how factual it is but I really dig the detailed and thoughtful response, thanks for sharing!