Useful Information > Weather
Weather
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| While you're aboard |
Coral
Reef Charters and the Environment
Cyclones
Most cyclonic activity is to the north around Cairns and
further. There has not been a cyclone in the Airlie Beach
area for about thirty years. In any event, as you will see
by reading on, cyclone activity can these days be predicted
very accurately and often a week in advance. Should there
be any potential problem our staff will provide plenty of
early warning and arrange for you to be transported to a
safe area. You should not let the tiny possibility of weather
deter you from holidaying at this popular and often very
pleasant period.
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One of the problems on the Great Barrier
Reef is the cyclone, which extends from December through
March of every year. Great strides are being made
by research to establish modelling units that have
won both state and national awards. This project uses
state of the art computer modelling to identify the
probability of different coastal water levels during
tropical cyclones. They modelled over 10,000 simulated
storms to represent cyclones that would create a different
level of storms surge. The water level when the cyclones
hits also depends on the tide at that time so they
combined storm surges with as many as possible scenarios
to find how storms act. |
The storm tide levels were predicted for 50 locations and
interestingly, the water levels are less than had been suggested
by previous studies. The leading architect of this study,
Professor Hardy, tributes a lot to the sophistication of
the modelling tools. While earlier computer model simulated
cyclone straight lines, with constant central pressure and
speed, the models have developed more realistic cyclones
scenarios. Its high-resolution information about the shape
of the storm enables increasingly accurate estimates of
the probability of different scenarios during cyclone events.
This will help local and state governments to implement
a tide warning system, thereby reducing the danger to boating
from a cyclone in the area.
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