India to witness more destructive cyclones in future: What you need to know
India will witness more destructive cyclones in future, a new study has shown. According to The Weather Channel, the storms making landfall in the country could be more and more "destructive". This year, India braved a number of cyclones including Amphan, Nisarga, Nivar, and Burevi.
In its report, The Weather Channel said that the overall number of tropical storms is likely to decrease as the globe continues to warm. These projections from South Korean researchers are based on one of the most computing-intensive and detailed global warming simulations so far, it said.
According to 13-month-long simulations on one of South Korea's fastest academic supercomputers named Aleph, a team of researchers from the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) at Pusan National University in South Korea said their study was projecting an increased number of powerful tropical cyclones of category 3 or higher crossing coasts from the Indian and the Pacific Oceans due to global warming.
As per the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) classification, Category 3 or higher in Saffir–Simpson scale is roughly equivalent to ‘extremely severe’ and ‘super’ cyclones. With the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a reduction in rising motion is projected in the tropical atmosphere, making it difficult for the cyclones to develop. However, the reduced number of cyclones that do form will have access to higher levels of humidity and energy to intensify rapidly into powerful storms.
READ MORE: After Burevi, Cyclone 'Arnab' may hit Tamil Nadu
The first cyclone the country saw in the year 2021 was 'Amphan'. It formed in the Bay of Bengal and intensified into a 'super cyclonic storm', the first since the super cyclone of Odisha that had ravaged the state in 1999, killing thousands. It, however, weakened a bit to become an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' and slammed the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh on May 19.
In 'Nisarga' came another circulation in the Arabian Sea, intensifying into a severe cyclonic storm. The storm hit Alibag, near Mumbai, and helped monsoon to arrive in Kerala on its normal date of June 1.
Cyclone 'Gati' intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm. It affected the western coast during its intensification stage, bringing rains over Kerala, but it crossed the Somalia coast on November 23. Cyclone 'Nivar' was initially projected to be a 'severe cyclonic storm'. However, it intensified into a 'very severe cyclonic storm', crossing the Tamil Nadu coast on the night of November 25.
Cyclone 'Burevi' crossed the Sri Lanka coast on November 2 but as it crossed the south Tamil Nadu coast, having its intensity reduced to deep depression.
READ MORE: 4 of 5 cyclones in 2020 were in severe cyclonic storms category and above
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