Tracking Cyclones – UPSC GS1

Recent Cyclones:
  • Cyclone Nivar
  • Cyclone Amphan
  • Cyclone Nisarga
Cyclone Forecasting
  1. The IMD has considerably increased its efforts in recent years in the areas of Tropical Cyclone forecasting and verification.
  2. Many facilities have been developed to enable a detailed assessment of the global model’s performance in the forecasting of TCs as well as operational TC forecast performance.
  3. Three major factors that have enhanced IMD’s capabilities in cyclone forecasting are
    • Doppler weather radars
    • International collaborations with Japanese meteorological agency, US National Hurricane Centre etc.
    • Increased deployment of ocean-buoys that help track variations in sea surface characteristics.
Doppler weather radar
  • The Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) provides advance information, enhancing the lead-time so essential for saving lives and property, in the event of natural disaster associated with severe weather.
  • Though the conventional radars are able to track and predict cyclones, the DWR provides detailed information on storm’s internal wind flow and structure.
  • The severity of the weather systems can thus be quantitatively estimated more accurately than ever before and more precise advance warnings can be generated for saving human lives and property.
  • There is a network of 27 doppler weather radars (DWR) in India with 12 of them being on the coast.
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