UPSC Articles
More cyclones in Arabian Sea
Part of: Prelims and GS-I – Geography
Context The frequency of “very severe cyclonic storms” has increased in recent years over the Arabian Sea.
- However, this has not measurably increased the threat to India’s western coast, as most of these cyclones were making landfall in Oman and Yemen.
- A very severe cyclone is defined as one with wind speeds touching 220 kmph. It is the fourth highest category of cyclones
- The eastern coast remained far more vulnerable to “extremely severe cyclones” than the western coast
- On an average, 60%-80% of the cyclones developing over the North Indian Ocean (NIO), comprising the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, made landfall causing loss of life and property.
- Low-lying coastal belts of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were more prone to the impact of these systems
Cyclones:
- Tropical cyclones are violent storms that originate over oceans, in tropical areas and move over to coastal areas bringing about large scale destruction caused by violent winds very heavy rainfall and storm surges.
- A cyclone consists of a low-pressure area with high pressure all around.
- Tropical cyclones are generated in regions of near zero horizontal temperature gradient. Tropical cyclones require very low values of tropospheric vertical shear in order to form and grow.
- They have large diameters.
