Hypercane
hypothetical class of extreme tropical cyclone
A hypercane is a hypothetical class of extreme tropical cyclone that could form if sea surface temperatures reached approximately 50 °C (122 °F), which is 12 °C (22 °F) warmer than the warmest ocean temperature ever recorded. Such an increase could be caused by a large asteroid or comet impact, a large supervolcanic eruption, a large submarine flood basalt, or "incredible" global warming. There is some speculation that a series of hypercanes resulting from the impact of a large asteroid or comet contributed to the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs. The hypothesis was developed by Kerry Emanuel of MIT, who also coined the term.
Description
In order to form a hypercane, according to Emanuel's hypothetical model, the ocean temperature would have to be at least 49 °C (120 °F). A critical difference between a hypercane and present-day hurricanes is that a hypercane would extend into the upper stratosphere, whereas present-day hurricanes extend into only the lower stratosphere.
Hypercanes would have wind speeds of over 800 kilometres per hour (500 mph), potentially gusting to 970 km/h (600 mph), and would also have a central pressure of less than 700 hectopascals (20.67 inHg), giving them an enormous lifespan of at least several weeks. The pressure drop, compared to mean sea level pressure, would be the equivalent of being at almost 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in elevation, a level sufficient to cause altitude sickness. This extreme low pressure could also support massive storm systems roughly the size of North America. For comparison, the largest and most intense storm on record was 1979's Typhoon Tip, with a 1-minute sustained wind speed of 305 km/h (190 mph) and a minimum central pressure of 870 hPa (25.69 inHg).
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This entry incorporates text from “Hypercane” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.