Hurricane
Harvey’s flooding of Texas’ low lying coastal areas with record
rains were especially severe around the Houston asphalt heat
absorbing micro-climate. Houston at night releases far more heat to
the atmosphere than surrounding unpaved rural areas. Heat and cold
temperature differences are prime elements in hurricane behavior.
Harvey
will reignite national controversy over global warming and how to
prevent political ostriches from taking over to thwart defense
against it. Global warming greenhouse gas releases from fossil fuel
powered cars is the nation’s biggest contributor to global warming.
A lesser known enabler of global warming is heat-absorbing asphalt.
Micro-climates are created in cities with so much asphalt. Poor people die. A common image from Hurricane Harvey and Houston is poorer people (comparatively) walking to leave through flooded streets.
Surprisingly
asphalt and the Arctic ocean have at least one thing in common; each
absorb heat better than ice. As the Arctic ocean loses its icepack it
takes longer to freeze and captures more heat. Ice has a higher
reflectivity ability of sunlight. Dirt and grass to not absorb as
much light-heat from the sun as asphalt. As permafrost melts- and as
much as 40% of it may with global warming, carbon stored in the
permafrost may be released further contributing to the greenhouse gas
effect, Arctic tundra fires in the decades ahead may increase
inexorably as hurricanes may be attracted more to Houston and linger
there with the asphalt-Galveston bay axis of empowerment.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080304200902.htm burning
tundra occurred thousands of years ago
More
than 1000 billion tons of carbon are stored beneath permafrost that
will be slowly released with global warming effect.
Fire
in tundra could release materials from human industrial processes too
that have accumulated in the tundra over hundreds of years
There
are numerous, obvious architectural responses that are possible to
counteract coastal flooding from hurricanes that would require mass
architectural and engineering design, Actually there are too numerous
to describe here. Artificial mountain range with curved shapes that
allow wildlife to live on the outside and that would channel winds
and concurrently change the micro-climate of given areas, large
artificial river-canals used to desalinate pumped-in seawater
periodically and for flood control rarely, fast above ground level
monorail evacuation lines from coastal areas to inland safe points,
etc.
image credit NOAA
image credit NOAA
