Remote Sensing and GIS

Figure: Cyclone Hazard: Frequency and Distribution. Source: Worldview In the North Indian Ocean, tropical cyclones form during the summer (between April and June) and post-monsoon duration (between October and December) of the year on either side of India, i.e. over the Bay of Bengal (BoB) in the east, and over the Arabian Sea (AS) on the west. On average around six tropical cyclones form in this region each year. Most of these storms form in the Bay of Bengal. Some studies claim the ratio of cyclogenesis (BoB: AS) is 4:1 while few others state it as 3:1. However, it is now agreed that cyclonic storms are more likely to increase in AS than BoB which is also related to climate change phenomena. Usually, the frequency of cyclogenesis in the Arabian Sea is less due to cooler sea-surface temperature. In the Arabian Sea, these storms mostly move in a south-westerly direction targeting the Arabian Peninsula, however, in some cases these storms move north-eastwards and strike the Gujarati coa...

Source: IMD Oh, God! It’s too scorching.. When will the rain bring relief?  The advancement of the southwest monsoon over the Indian mainland is usually marked by monsoon onset over Kerala. As soon as the monsoon progresses northward, relief from the scorching summer temperatures will be experienced over the areas. Climatologically, the Southwest monsoon sets over Kerala on 1st June with a standard deviation of about 7 days.  This year, the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala is likely to be on 31st May with a model error of ± 4 days.  Wait! Which model are you talking about?  India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been issuing operational forecasts for the date of monsoon onset over Kerala from 2005 onwards. It uses 6 predictors in the models, these are Minimum Temperatures over North-west India, Premonsoon rainfall peak over south Peninsula, Outgoing Long wave Radiation (OLR) over south China Sea, Lower tropospheric zonal wind over the southeas...