Why is it important to name cyclones?

• Adopting names for cyclones makes it easier for people to remember, as opposed to numbers and technical terms.
• Apart from the general public, it also helps the scientific community, the media, disaster managers etc.
• With a name, it is easy to identify individual cyclones, create awareness of its development, rapidly disseminate warnings to increased community preparedness and remove confusion where there are multiple cyclonic systems over a region.

Benefits of naming : Naming of tropical cyclones helps the scientific community, disaster managers, media and general masses to

• Identify each individual cyclone.
• Create awareness of its development.
• Remove confusion in case of simultaneous occurrence of tropical cyclones over a region.
• Remember a tropical cyclone easily,
• Rapidly and effectively disseminate warnings to a much wider audience.
• In the Atlantic and in the Southern hemisphere (Indian ocean and South Pacific), tropical cyclones receive names in alphabetical order, and women and men’s names are alternated. Nations in the Northern Indian ocean began using a new system for naming tropical cyclones in 2000; the names are listed alphabetically country wise, and are neutral gender wise.
• The common rule is that the name list is proposed by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of WMO Members of a specific region, and approved by the respective tropical cyclone regional bodies at their annual/biennual sessions.

When it was agreed to name the Tropical cyclones ?

• The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) at its 27th Session held in 2000 in Muscat, Oman agreed in principle to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
• The naming of the tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean commenced from September 2004.
• This list contained names proposed by then eight member countries of WMO/ESCAP PTC, viz., Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
• The requirement for a fresh list of tropical cyclones including representation from five new member countries: Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen (total 13 member countries) was tabled during the 45th session of WMO/ESCAP, held in September 2018. The session was hosted by Oman.
• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) jointly established the Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC)in 1972 as an intergovernmental body.
• Its membership comprises countries affected by tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
• The Panel is one of the five regional tropical cyclone bodies established as part of the WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme (TCP) which aims at promoting and coordinating the planning and implementation of measures to mitigate tropical cyclone disasters on a worldwide basis.
• For this purpose, there are Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC)- Tropical cyclone and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWC) for different regions.
• The main objective of the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones is to promote measures to improve tropical cyclone warning systems in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

• Cyclones are not only present on Earth but also spotted on other planets like Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune. The Great Red Spot is the hurricane on Jupiter which is going on from 340 years. Great Black Spot was spotted in the Southern Hemisphere of Neptune.

• Tropical cyclone- Tropical cyclones are regarded as one of the most devastating natural calamities in the world.
• They originate and intensify over warm tropical oceans.
• These are ferocious storms that originate over oceans in tropical areas and move over to the coastal areas causing violent winds, very heavy rainfall, and storm outpourings.
• Extratropical cyclone- The Extra-Tropical Cyclones are storm systems emerging in the mid and high latitudes, away from the tropics.
• They are low-pressure systems with associated cold fronts, warm fronts, and occluded fronts.
• These cyclones are formed along the polar front.
• In the beginning, the front is stationary.
• Extra-tropical cyclones are also known as mid-latitude storms or baroclinic storms.
• In the Northern hemisphere, cold air blows from the north of the front and warm air blows from the south.
• When the pressure descents along the front, the cold air move towards the south, and the warm air moves northwards setting in motion an anticlockwise cyclonic circulation.
• The cyclonic circulation results in a well-built extratropical cyclone, with a cold front and a warm front.
• There are pockets of warm air compressed between the forward and the rear cold air.
• The warm air climbs over the cold air and a series of clouds appear over the sky ahead of the warm front and cause rainfall.
• The cold front approaches the warm air from behind and pushes the warm air up.
• As an outcome, cumulus clouds develop along the cold front.
• The cold front moves faster than the warm front eventually surpassing the warm front.
• The warm air is entirely lifted and the front is occluded and the cyclone dissipates.
• They can originate over the land and sea and cover a larger area.

• When it comes to the formation or strengthening of a cyclone, Cyclogenesis plays a crucial role. It is an umbrella term to identify several different processes that result in a cyclone.
• Tropical cyclones are formed over warm ocean water near the equator. Warm moist air near the surface of the ocean rises upwards. This creates a low-pressure area near the surface.
• This results in the movement of cooler air from surrounding areas into the low-pressure area.
• Now even this cool air becomes warm and moist and rises up. The above cycle keeps continuing.
• The warm moist air which rises up, cools the water in the air, resulting in the formation of clouds.
• This whole system of clouds and winds spins and grows. This entire cycle continues resulting in a cyclone.
• When the winds reach a speed of 63 mph, it is called a tropical storm, when the winds reach a speed of 119 kmph it is called a tropical cyclone or hurricane.

Who categorises cyclones in India over Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea?

• Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), classified the low-pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea on the basis of maximum sustained wind speed.

•  IMD, one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres (RSMC) in the world, is mandated to issue advisories and name tropical cyclones in the north Indian Ocean region.
• The advisories are issued to 13 member countries under WMO/ESCAP Panel including Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

India Meteorological Department (IMD)

• Formed in 1875, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is the national meteorological service of the country and it is the chief government agency dealing in everything related to meteorology, seismology, and associated subjects.
• The administrative responsibilities of the Department are under the supervision of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Indian Government. The IMD is headquartered in New Delhi.

 IMD Mandate

• The mandate and functions of the IMD are discussed below-
• Taking meteorological observations and providing current information and forecasting information for the most favorable operation of weather-dependent activities such as irrigation, agriculture, aviation, shipping, offshore oil exploration, and so on.
• Giving warnings against severe weather phenomena such as tropical cyclones, dust storms, heat waves, cold waves, heavy rains, heavy snow, etc.
• Providing met-related statistics needed for agriculture, industries, water resources management, oil exploration, and any other strategically important activities for the country.
• Engaging in research in meteorology and allied subjects.
• Detection and location of earthquakes and evaluation of seismicity in various parts of the country for developmental projects.

How are the cyclones named?

• In 2000, a group of nations called WMO/ESCAP (World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), which comprised Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, decided to start naming cyclones in the region.
• After each country sent in suggestions, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) finalised the list.
• The WMO/ESCAP expanded to include five more countries in 2018 — Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
• The list of 169 cyclone names released by IMD last month, in April, were provided by these countries — 13 suggestions from each of the 13 countries.
• The new list included the last name from the previous list (Amphan) as it remained unused at the time of release.
• Incidentally, the IMD has issued an alert for Cyclone Amphan, which is forming over the southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining south Andaman sea.