earth science

Storm World

Storm World is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Storm World rather than just read about it. In short: Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming is a 2007 book by Chris Mooney. Mooney discusses tensions between two different approaches to analyzing global warming and its effect on hurricanes.

Key takeaways

Storm World belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Storm World to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Storm World from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming is a 2007 book by Chris Mooney. Mooney discusses tensions between two different approaches to analyzing global warming and its effect on hurricanes.

Overview After witnessing the devastation of his mother's house in Hurricane Katrina Mooney was concerned that government policy failed to consider worst-case scenarios when planning for the future even after that disaster. He explores whether global warming will affect hurricanes in general even if it cannot explain the specifics of any individual storm. Mooney found there were two camps in storm research one that felt the field should be based on data and another looking into deductions based on theories derived from physics. Surrounding this divide are politics, personalities and the drama of powerful storms. The question of the effect of global warming on storms and the difficulty reaching conclusions intensified the conflict. Mooney renders this into an accessible and compelling narrative with vivid portrayals of the scientists, accounts of new discoveries and their acceptance or denial by scientists and politicians. The integration of both research methods by some scientists gives Mooney hope and he concludes that in order to be effective scientists must be skilled communicators. Storm World chronicles the history of the field of storm research from "the American Storm Controversy" a running disagreement in the 1800s between William Redfield whose observations led him to conclude that hurricanes were whirlwinds and James Pollard Espy who theorized convection, with water rising up a chimney, was the cause of hurricanes. It covers the clash of ideas in the 1950s between observationalists including Robert Simpson comparing hurricanes to "heat engines" and theorists and early computer modelers who advocated a mathematical theory Conditional Instability of the Second Kind (CISK). These early disputes set the stage for the current debate. Mooney details William Gray's changing role from groundbreaking theorist to climate change denying anti-theorist set against the background of the increasing public spotlight and urgency to develop a working understanding of storms and global warming in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Reception Lisa Margonelli, reviewing Storm World for the New York Times, describes it as "a well-researched, nuanced book that suffers from poor organization and a lack of pizazz." In a mixed review in the Los Angeles Times Thomas Hayden wrote that Mooney deftly handled the complexity of the questions surrounding global warming and its effect on hurricanes. He praised Mooney as a writer and the timeliness of publication while pointing to continuity problems, a lack of integration and repetition. In particular he describes a later chapter on the most recent developments in hurricane and climate science as "tacked on just before the conclusion, so we learn important matters of substance after we've heard all the arguments." While saying that, "Mooney has a talent for humanizing the science and scientists" he criticizes the author for focusing too much on the over the top behavior of William Gray rather than presenting other researchers critiques of the subject. He continues noting Mooney's research is apparent throughout and that, "he does a fine job of sifting through complexities and presenting the science in an engaging and readable package." Hayden concludes, "Mooney catches real science in the act and, in so doing, weaves a story as intriguing as it is important." It was selected as one of the best non-fiction books of year in 2007 by Publishers Weekly.

Publication Mooney, Chris C. (2007). Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780151012879.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Storm World

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Storm World claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Storm World before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Storm World ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Storm World

In research: Storm World appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Storm World in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Storm World is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2007 in the environment, Books about the politics of science, Climate change books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Storm World outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Storm World in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Storm World means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Storm World out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Storm World in simple terms?

Why does Storm World matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Storm World?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Storm World.