Hurricane Time Series Analysis

Henry Potter, Texas A & M University, Oceanography
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Summary

This activity uses Atlantic hurricane data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Students will run the code provided to produce figures (scatter plots, time series, and histograms) that visualize the data, and will be asked to answer questions related to these figures. This activity requires the ability to interpret data and think critically about why patterns in the data. As an optional addition to this activity, students can write their own MATLAB code, using the code provided as a guide, to complete an in depth analysis of a single Hurricane.

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Learning Goals

By completing this activity, students will think critically about time series data related to Atlantic hurricanes. Students will be expected to identify patterns in the data and identify why these patterns exists.

MATLAB is used to import and plot the data. Data visualization is essential for students to be able to interpret the results. Successful completion of this lab requires student to think critically about the results and (optionally) be able to write there own basic MATLAB code using the provided code as a guide.

Students need to provide their answer in precise written form.

Context for Use

This activity is self-guided. Students need to be able to runs MATLAB code in sections and interpret the output. Student do not need to write their own code, but will need a nominal amount of experience with MATLAB to complete the activity.

Students are asked to answer questions related to the figures that are produced as a results of running the provided code. These question require students to think critically about time series data and how climate changes on seasonal and long-term time scales. As such, some experience with time series analysis and Earth system science would be helpful.

This activity could be adapted for students with greater MATLAB experience by asking student to write the code to import and plot the data (rather than providing it to them). Alternatively, it would be relatively simple to add additional questions to this activity that require MATLAB coding.

It is expected this activity will take about 1 hours to complete and is ideal for a laboratory assignment.

Description and Teaching Materials

For this teaching activity you will use NOAA's hurricane Best Track Data (Atlantic HURDAT2). HURDAT2 has a comma-delimited, text format with six-hourly information on the location, maximum winds, central pressure, and (beginning in 2004) size of all known tropical cyclones and subtropical cyclones. HURDAT2 has data from 1851 to the end of the previous year's Atlantic hurricane season.

The URL is https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/hurdat/hurdat2-1851-2023-051124.txt

Code is provided to load HURDAT2 into MATLAB given the URL and to plot the data. Students will be run the code and answer questions related to the figures.

Students need to follow the step-by-step instructions on Teaching Activity.docx which is provided alongside the code MATLAB_Atlantic_Hurricane_Analysis.m

At each step there are questions to answer before moving onto the next.


Student Handout for Hurricane Time Series Teaching Activity (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 17kB Oct29 24)
Student Code for Hurricane Time Series Teaching Activity (Matlab File 10kB Oct10 24)


Teaching Notes and Tips


Assessment

Successful completion of this activity requires students to run the code to produce the requires figures and to answer the associated questions.

References and Resources