scienceillustrated.com.au | 21The warmer ocean temperatures of the
future will cause more powerful
hurricanes and more super typhoons.288+ KM/T IS THE
NEW LIMIT
Average wind speed
measured in one minute.
Category 1
119-153 km/h
Category 2
154-177 km/h
Category 3
178-208 km/h
Category 4
209-251 km/h
Category 5
252-288 km/h
CATEGORY 6
288 km/hVCG/GETTY IMAGES
Do We Need A New
Category for Superstorms?
The American categories of tropical
hurricanes/typhoons in the Atlantic and the
Eastern Pacific indicate the level of destruction
expected by the authorities. As the highest,
category 5, is “devastating”, there is no
immediate need for a category 6, although
scientists expect that future storms could be
about 5 % more powerful. Today, the
hurricane/typhoon scale includes winds of upto 288 km/h. If a category 6 were to be
introduced,it need winds of even higher
speeds, and if so, the first four category 6
storms have already been recorded in the
Atlantic. Wilma from 2005 as the most recent
with wind speeds of 295 km/h. Another
category 6 storm was the super typhoon of
Haiyan, which struck the Philippines in 2013
with wind speeds of 315 km/h.YORGOS NIKAS & DENNIS KUNKEL MICROSCOPY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYDiameter, egg cell:
Some 0.12 mmHow many times larger than a red blood cell is an egg cell?
17 X
larger than a red blood cellRed blood cell: Is disc-
shaped with a diameter
of about 0.007 mm.
The cell's function is to
bind oxygen in the lungs
and carry it to other cells.Egg cell: With a diameter
of about 0.12 mm, it is
one of the largest cells
of the body. It is the size
of a sand grain and
visible to the naked eye.SCALE
Diameter, red blood cell:
Some 0.007 mmIn 2013,
the Haiyan
super typhoon
claimed 6,000
lives.