As we will be human, and for our society, it can be said that we cannot find many benefits in a hurricane. In addition, it is a very sensitive issue, especially for those who have suffered the effects. But, focusing on our planet, from a meteorological point of view, which is the subject we are dealing with here, it is not so bad.
It is possible that a priori, we continue to identify a hurricane with destruction. Fallen trees, destroyed beaches, animals that have suffered the consequences, etc. Not to mention what society is concerned with. Human losses, destroyed buildings, fires due to power outages, plagues ... And yet, from a meteorological point of view, it is positive. Can you anticipate why before reading on?
Temperature regulation
The steps of hurricanes contribute to cooling the planet. A key factor must be taken into account. The warmer the water in the oceans, the more intense hurricanes tend to be. The great hurricane Irma has been the manifestation of all the high temperatures that we are experiencing in recent times. In turn, hurricanes, with their great volume and magnitude, tend to cool, and not only on a local scale, but this translates to the entire globe. It is one of the ways that our planet has as a mechanism to self-regulate its temperature.
Although the formation of hurricanes is something that is still being studied, a few things are known about them. Taking into account that the temperature of the water influences, it also translates with the hot air. The higher the temperature, the less dense the air is, which causes it to rise. Doing so lowers the pressure, causing instability, causing a start, a cyclone in this case. On the contrary, it would be an anticyclone. Cold and warm air don't mix, that's why it generates these currents, and hence more these phenomena occur at the equator. With the warm air of him meeting the cold coming from the poles.
The corals
The colares are great beneficiaries of hurricanes. Beyond being a marine species, corals allow millions of species to survive. They also create a symbiosis with other species. For example, one of them is algae, whose "mutual aid" was born 210 million years ago.
The problems that arise with corals associated with climate change, such as the melting of the poles, rising temperatures, etc., is that they endanger their survival. With high temperatures, corals tend to become stressed, that is, they turn whiter in color. This discoloration occurs because the conditions necessary to maintain the zooxanthealle are not maintained, and the coral expels it. Zooxanthealle is a symbiotic protozoan.
Eventually, if conditions continue to worsen, you may reach the point of the death of the coral. When that happens, what is actually happening is that a whole great ecosystem vanishes, and can never be recovered. That is why, the passage of a hurricane, lowers temperatures, in turn regulating the conditions for them to survive. This is how the hurricane plays a "revitalizing" role under the waters, helping to preserve all that great biodiversity in balance.
More benefits
Not only those mentioned above, hurricanes also contribute to the renewal of groundwater. Also that areas where there was stagnant water and possibly were potential mosquito producers are cleaned.
Another particular characteristic that strong winds bring is to uproot the trees. The weakest tend to break, thus promoting forests can be renewed by keeping the strongest trees. As with stagnant waters, it also serves as a control to avoid overpopulation of certain species of insects.
It is curious how sometimes, what seems uncontrolled in nature, it has reasons for its existence and leaves behind a legacy of balance. If it weren't for hurricanes, something that would happen at the equator is that it would heat up to too high a point. There we would eventually find a superstorm, the hypercan, which we talked about recently.