Hurricanes and Our Future: Missing Link in Earth's Climate System (2009)

Kerry Emanuel, PhD, MIT professor of meteorology and world expert on hurricanes, joins a class of teens to discuss cyclones. 57 chapter stops cover what hurricanes are, how they work as real world "heat engines," how warming temperatures impact hurricanes frequency and intensity, the surprising role he believes this planetary phenomena plays and has played in Earth's climate system, and what we can expect in the future. Students interview Emanuel on science, public policy, science as a career, research, and how science progresses through debate and argument. The teacher-producer interviews Emanuel on the essence of science, inquiry, and discovery. 60 minutes, plus thirty minutes of the two interview segments.