With Cyclone Biparjoy poised to make landfall on the western coast by Thursday evening, there is a curiosity among the general public regarding the methodology behind the naming of cyclones.
In fact, until two decades ago, there was no standardised naming process for cyclones in the vicinity of the Indian subcontinent.
Consequently, it is intriguing to explore the principles governing the selection of names and the countries involved in this comprehensive procedure. It is worth noting that there exists a global uniformity in the naming of cyclones, specifically within the region we inhabit.
The naming of tropical cyclones across various ocean basins typically falls under the responsibility of specific Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers (RSMCs) and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers (TCWCs) associated with the relevant regions, reported India Today on Wednesday.
This process involves six regional centers globally, which include the India Meteorological Department RSMC, along with six TCWCs, who are tasked with issuing advisories and assigning names to cyclones. Specifically, cyclones that form in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are named by the Indian Meteorological Department located in New Delhi.
The decision to establish uniformity and allocate a single name to tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea was made during the twenty-seventh Session of The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) held in Muscat in 2000. Consequently, the naming of tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean Region commenced in the year 2004.
The name "Biparjoy" for the cyclone is provided by Bangladesh, signifying 'disaster' or 'calamity' in Bangla. Typically, countries that are politically and religiously neutral are responsible for naming tropical cyclones.
The names of each tropical cyclone are proposed alphabetically by the 13-member countries of the WMO/ESCAP Panel. In the region encompassing the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, tropical cyclones are named in a sequential manner by the countries located in this area that are affected by such cyclones.
The countries involved in the naming process include: 1) Bangladesh, 2) India, 3) Iran, 4) Maldives, 5) Myanmar, 6) Oman, 7) Pakistan, 8) Qatar, 9) Saudi Arabia, 10) Sri Lanka, 11) Thailand, 12) United Arab Emirates, and 13) Yemen.
The names of the upcoming cyclones as per the list of countries stated above, after Biparjoy by Bangladesh will be -
(Inputs from Kumar Kunal)
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