HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT #1                                      Do hurricanes establish patterns?

Due by 5 pm on Tuesday, September 13

 

(1) Go to the following web site listing the most intense US hurricanes (1900-2000)

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/deadly/Table4.htm

 

The table includes 65 hurricanes in the main section with 8 in the addendum.  For each hurricane, we are told the ranking, the name, the year the storm occurred, the location of landfall, the category of storm, and the minimum pressure reached by each storm.  The category is determined by the maximum wind speed.  The intensity refers to how low the barometric pressure at the center of the storm reached. The lower the pressure, the more intense the storm and the faster the wind speed. 

 

(2) What pattern seems to be present with these storms?  Your assignment is to manipulate the data in some way to demonstrate the pattern you think you observe.  This is how scientific data is brought to the public. 

 

You may present this manipulated data in a table or in a graph.    These may be done by hand or using a spreadsheet program such as Excel. 

 

In your own words, please describe how and why you manipulated the data.  Did this process support your preliminary hypothesis?  Was this a strong pattern?   How would this help the general US population or US policy makers?  This part of the assignment should be word-processed, double spaced and done in 12-pt. font. 

 

The homework will be graded with the rubric provided on the class web site.