in 2005 the year of Katrina the National
Hurricane Center exhausted its preseason
list of 21 names for Atlantic storms
this rise in frequency and intensity
sparked international fears that a super
cycle of hurricanes will soon strike
another major city this time in
unexpected places
further of the coast so scientists but
dr. Henry grissino-mayor were given a
challenge to find evidence of ancient
hurricanes reveal their cycles and see
if they resemble the pattern that
threatens us today so now what we’re
using here the tree-ring record is to
learn about past hurricanes by actually
picking a part of the tree rings on a
much finer finer scale to learn about
past hurricanes knowing for the 20th
century but for many centuries
much like forensic scientists we
actually use patterns in the tree rings
just like fingerprint patterns we use
the patterns and the tree rings from the
living trees and we overlap that pattern
with the pattern of tree rings from the
dead trees and that’s how we’re able to
assign years to the tree rings from
these dead and downed pieces of wood it
starts with grissino-mayor x’ favorite
the longleaf pine a native tree that
once made up the lush coastal forests of
the Carolinas until the demand for Ship
masts and turpentine decimated their
numbers
this tree is hurricane proof and
outlives many of its neighbors it’s wide
route Matt quickly draws up water which
it incorporates into its growth layer
manufacturing cellulose in the process
the composition of the oxygen in the
water that makes up hurricane rainfall
is distinct so they essentially are
drinking hurricane juice if you will and
incorporating the water from the
hurricane the oxygen in the water from
the hurricane is used when the tree
makes cellulose within that cellulose
lies the hurricane signature in the form
of oxygen isotopes a chemical signature
grissino-mayor is looking for Claudia
more emerges disciplines with
grissino-mayor to get at the hurricane
story embedded in the wood
working on the lakewood here and what
we’re
so we’re just trying to find that
cellulose that’s being made from the
water drawn up and retains that
hurricane signal because oxygen is in
just about everything it’s it’s really
just a tool for a clever chemist to use
grissino-mayor shaves a catalog ring
Maura chemically extracts the cellulose
packing it into a tiny ball she fires it
through a mass spectrometer it separates
two distinct types of oxygen isotope one
weighing more than the other atomic
weights of 16 and 18
the composition of lighter and heavier
isotopes in hurricane rainfall differs
from normal precipitation a hurricane
relies repeated condensation for energy
water vapor rises condenses and forms a
cloud drop this droplet falls as rain
and it takes with it more of the heavier
isotope it leaves behind more of the
lighter isotopes which still circulate
in a vapour state if you take a rain
cloud and you wring it a little bit
there goes some of the of the
precipitation get most of the eights a
lot of the 18o Falls that you bring it a
little bit more but you still get more
18 out than 16 but the amount the
relative amount has changed a little bit
there’s just not as much 1800 left the
time I hit salon it’s very different
than normal precipitation after a year
and a half processing and recording
centuries of tree rings the day we
figured out that it worked it was well
it was Miller time a season-by-season
record of hurricane cycles that date
back for centuries reveals ancient
on-again off-again patterns it confirms
that our current active cycle may not be
an anomaly the East has been battered
again and again by hurricane cycles that
may have lasted decades at a time
Hurricane Center exhausted its preseason
list of 21 names for Atlantic storms
this rise in frequency and intensity
sparked international fears that a super
cycle of hurricanes will soon strike
another major city this time in
unexpected places
further of the coast so scientists but
dr. Henry grissino-mayor were given a
challenge to find evidence of ancient
hurricanes reveal their cycles and see
if they resemble the pattern that
threatens us today so now what we’re
using here the tree-ring record is to
learn about past hurricanes by actually
picking a part of the tree rings on a
much finer finer scale to learn about
past hurricanes knowing for the 20th
century but for many centuries
much like forensic scientists we
actually use patterns in the tree rings
just like fingerprint patterns we use
the patterns and the tree rings from the
living trees and we overlap that pattern
with the pattern of tree rings from the
dead trees and that’s how we’re able to
assign years to the tree rings from
these dead and downed pieces of wood it
starts with grissino-mayor x’ favorite
the longleaf pine a native tree that
once made up the lush coastal forests of
the Carolinas until the demand for Ship
masts and turpentine decimated their
numbers
this tree is hurricane proof and
outlives many of its neighbors it’s wide
route Matt quickly draws up water which
it incorporates into its growth layer
manufacturing cellulose in the process
the composition of the oxygen in the
water that makes up hurricane rainfall
is distinct so they essentially are
drinking hurricane juice if you will and
incorporating the water from the
hurricane the oxygen in the water from
the hurricane is used when the tree
makes cellulose within that cellulose
lies the hurricane signature in the form
of oxygen isotopes a chemical signature
grissino-mayor is looking for Claudia
more emerges disciplines with
grissino-mayor to get at the hurricane
story embedded in the wood
working on the lakewood here and what
we’re
so we’re just trying to find that
cellulose that’s being made from the
water drawn up and retains that
hurricane signal because oxygen is in
just about everything it’s it’s really
just a tool for a clever chemist to use
grissino-mayor shaves a catalog ring
Maura chemically extracts the cellulose
packing it into a tiny ball she fires it
through a mass spectrometer it separates
two distinct types of oxygen isotope one
weighing more than the other atomic
weights of 16 and 18
the composition of lighter and heavier
isotopes in hurricane rainfall differs
from normal precipitation a hurricane
relies repeated condensation for energy
water vapor rises condenses and forms a
cloud drop this droplet falls as rain
and it takes with it more of the heavier
isotope it leaves behind more of the
lighter isotopes which still circulate
in a vapour state if you take a rain
cloud and you wring it a little bit
there goes some of the of the
precipitation get most of the eights a
lot of the 18o Falls that you bring it a
little bit more but you still get more
18 out than 16 but the amount the
relative amount has changed a little bit
there’s just not as much 1800 left the
time I hit salon it’s very different
than normal precipitation after a year
and a half processing and recording
centuries of tree rings the day we
figured out that it worked it was well
it was Miller time a season-by-season
record of hurricane cycles that date
back for centuries reveals ancient
on-again off-again patterns it confirms
that our current active cycle may not be
an anomaly the East has been battered
again and again by hurricane cycles that
may have lasted decades at a time
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