Flood

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Contemporary picture of the Burchardi flood that struck the North Sea coast of Germany and
Denmark on the night between the 11 and 12 October 1634.
For other uses, see Flood (disambiguation).

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land.[1] The EU Floods directive
defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water. [2]In the
sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may
result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows
or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its usual boundaries.[3] While the
size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and snow
melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by man
like a village, city or other inhabited area.

Floods can also occur in rivers, when flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel, particularly
at bends or meanders. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are placed in
natural flood plains of rivers. While flood damage can be virtually eliminated by moving away
from rivers and other bodies of water, since time out of mind, people have lived and worked by
the water to seek sustenance and capitalize on the gains of cheap and easy travel and commerce
by being near water. That humans continue to inhabit areas threatened by flood damage is
evidence that the perceived value of living near the water exceeds the cost of repeated periodic
flooding.

The word "flood" comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Germanic languages
(compare German Flut, Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float; also compare
with Latin fluctus, flumen). Deluge myths are mythical stories of a great flood sent by a deity or
deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution, and are featured in the mythology of
many cultures.
Earthquake

An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the result of a sudden release of
energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity or seismic activity of an
area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time.
Earthquakes are measured with a seismometer; a device which also records is known as a
seismograph. The moment magnitude (or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude) of
an earthquake is conventionally reported, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being mostly
imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas. Intensity of shaking is
measured on the modified Mercalli scale.

At the Earth's surface, earthquakes manifest themselves by shaking and sometimes displacing the
ground. When a large earthquake epicenter is located offshore, the seabed sometimes suffers
sufficient displacement to cause a tsunami. The shaking in earthquakes can also trigger
landslides and occasionally volcanic activity.

In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—whether a
natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans—that generates seismic waves. Earthquakes
are caused mostly by rupture of geological faults, but also by volcanic activity, landslides, mine
blasts, and nuclear experiments. An earthquake's point of initial rupture is called its focus or
hypocenter. The term epicenter refers to the point at ground level directly above the hypocenter.

Drought
Fields outside Benambra, Victoria, Australia suffering from drought conditions.

A drought (or drouth [archaic]) is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a
deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below
average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the
affected region. Although droughts can persist for several years, even a short, intense drought
can cause significant damage[1] and harm the local economy.[2]

This global phenomenon has a widespread impact on agriculture. The United Nations estimates
that an area of fertile soil the size of Ukraine is lost every year because of drought, deforestation,
and climate instability.[3] Lengthy periods of drought have long been a key trigger for mass
migration and played a key role in a number of ongoing migrations and other humanitarian crises
in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel.

Landslide
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the geological phenomenon. For Ruddslide (disambiguation), see Landslide
(disambiguation).
"Rockslide" redirects here. For the comic book character, see Rockslide (comics).
This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. See the talk page for details.
WikiProject Geology or the Geology Portal may be able to help recruit an expert. (November
2007)
A "slump" landslide in San Mateo County, California in January 1997

A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground

movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur
in offshore, coastal and onshore environments. Although the action of gravity is the primary
driving force for a landslide to occur, there are other contributing factors affecting the original
slope stability. Typically, pre-conditional factors build up specific sub-surface conditions that
make the area/slope prone to failure, whereas the actual landslide often requires a trigger before
being released.

Tsunami

Tsunami striking Thailand on December 26, 2004

A tsunami (Japanese: 津波 [tsɯnami], lit. 'harbor wave';[1] English pronunciation: /(t)suːˈnɑːmi/
(t)soo-NAH-mee) or tidal wave is a series of water waves (called a tsunami wave train[2]) caused
by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, usually an ocean, but can occur in
large lakes. Tsunamis are a frequent occurrence in Japan; approximately 195 events have been
recorded.[3] Due to the immense volumes of water and energy involved, tsunamis can devastate
coastal regions.

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations of

underwater nuclear devices), landslides and other mass movements, meteorite ocean impacts or
similar impact events, and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to
generate a tsunami.

The Greek historian Thucydides was the first to relate tsunami to submarine earthquakes,[4][5] but
understanding of tsunami's nature remained slim until the 20th century and is the subject of
ongoing research. Many early geological, geographical, and oceanographic texts refer to
tsunamis as "seismic sea waves."

Some meteorological conditions, such as deep depressions that cause tropical cyclones, can
generate a storm surge, called a meteotsunami, which can raise tides several metres above
normal levels. The displacement comes from low atmospheric pressure within the centre of the
depression. As these storm surges reach shore, they may resemble (though are not) tsunamis,
inundating vast areas of land. Such a storm surge inundated Burma in May 2008.

Lightning

Lightning striking a tower in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia.

How lightning initially forms is still a matter of debate:[6] Scientists have studied root causes
ranging from atmospheric perturbations (wind, humidity, friction, and atmospheric pressure) to
the impact of solar wind and accumulation of charged solar particles.[4] Ice inside a cloud is
thought to be a key element in lightning development, and may cause a forcible separation of
positive and negative charges within the cloud, thus assisting in the formation of lightning.[4]

The irrational fear of lightning (and thunder) is astraphobia. The study or science of lightning is
called fulminology, and someone who studies lightning is referred to as a fulminologist.[7]
Cyclone

Polar low over the Barents Sea on February 27, 1987

In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same
direction as the Earth[1][2]. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate
counter clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the
Earth. Most large-scale cyclonic circulations are centered on areas of low atmospheric pressure[3]
[4]
. The largest low-pressure systems are cold-core polar cyclones and extratropical cyclones
which lie on the synoptic scale. Warm-core cyclones such as tropical cyclones, mesocyclones,
and polar lows lie within the smaller mesoscale. Subtropical cyclones are of intermediate size.[5]
[6]
Upper level cyclones can exist without the presence of a surface low, and can pinch off from
the base of the Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough during the summer months in the Northern
Hemisphere. Cyclones have also been seen on other planets outside of the Earth, such as Mars
and Neptune.[7][8]

Cyclogenesis describes the process of cyclone formation and intensification.[9] Extratropical

cyclones form as waves in large regions of enhanced midlatitude temperature contrasts called
baroclinic zones. These zones contract to form weather fronts as the cyclonic circulation closes
and intensifies. Later in their life cycle, cyclones occlude as cold core systems. A cyclone's track
is guided over the course of its 2 to 6 day life cycle by the steering flow of the cancer or
subtropical jet stream.

Weather fronts separate two masses of air of different densities and are associated with the most
prominent meteorological phenomena. Air masses separated by a front may differ in temperature
or humidity. Strong cold fronts typically feature narrow bands of thunderstorms and severe
weather, and may on occasion be preceded by squall lines or dry lines. They form west of the
circulation center and generally move from west to east. Warm fronts form east of the cyclone
center and are usually preceded by stratiform precipitation and fog.