As hopes for progress fade at COP18 in Doha, in spite of much talk about the devastation of Hurricane Sandy a few weeks ago in the U.S. and it's impact on both scientists and the general public, another super-storm, Typhoon Bopha, is devastating the Philippines, with 1000 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless at last count. Bopha is the strongest typhoon ever to hit Mindanao, the southernmost island of the Phillipines. Storms this strong do not usually occur this far south because the
coriolis force, which helps storms spin up, is weak at such latitudes.
Remember how Sandy, moving in a northeastern direction up the US coast, stopped opposite New Jersey, gained strength and wind-speed, and then punched directly west? As the projected storm track (above right) shows, after having battered the southern lands, Bopha is expected to do a similar jujitsu- after strengthening in the China sea again, it will spin down to the east and hit the northern island of Luzon, the most populous island of the Philippines.
The Phillipine's delegate to the Doha COP118 Conference broke down while pleading for action:
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