The new list of names of tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean

Introduction

The new list of names of tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean has been selected buy the WMOs Panel on tropical cyclones(PTC).

Worldwide there are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) mandated for issuing advisories and naming of tropical cyclones.

India Meteorological Department is one of the six RSMCs to provide tropical cyclone and storm surge advisories to 13 member countries under the WMO/ESCAP Panel including Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

RSMC, New Delhi is also mandated to name the Tropical Cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean (NIO) including the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the Arabian Sea (AS).

Importance of naming of Tropical Cyclones

It helps the scientific community, disaster managers, media and general masses to:

1. identify each individual cyclone.
2. create awareness of its development.
3. remove confusion in case of simultaneous occurrence of TCs over a region
4. remember a TC easily
5. rapidly and effectively disseminate warnings to much wider audience

Therefore, the tropical cyclones forming over different Ocean basins are named by the concerned RSMCs & TCWCs.

For north Indian Ocean including Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, the RSMC, New Delhi assigns the name to tropical cyclones following a standard procedure.

The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) at its twenty-seventh Session held in 2000 in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman agreed in principle to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.

After long deliberations among the member countries, the naming of the tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean commenced from September 2004. This list contained names proposed by then eight member countries of WMO/ESCAP PTC, viz., Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Almost all names except the last name (Amphan) from this list have been utilised till date.

During WMO/ESCAP PTC 45th Session held at Muscat, Oman in September, 2018 it was decided to prepare a fresh list of names of tropical cyclones including representation from five new member countries, viz., Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen (Total 13 member countries).

The WMO/ESCAP PTC in this session nominated Dr.Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, India Meteorological Department to act as Rapporteur to co-ordinate among the Panel member countries and to finalise the list of names following the standard procedure and suggest the implementation plan. The report of the rapporteur was initially presented by India during 46th Session of WMO/ESCAP PTC held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar during 09-13, Sept., 2019. After deliberations, the report was finally adopted by WMO/ESCAP PTC with consensus in April, 2020.

Criteria adopted for selection of names by the PTC member countries:

1. The proposed name should be neutral to (a) politics and political figures (b) religious believes, (c) cultures and (d) gender
2. Name should be chosen in such a way that it does not hurt the sentiments of any group of population over the globe
3. It should not be very rude and cruel in nature
4. It should be short, easy to pronounce and should not be offensive to any member
5. The maximum length of the name will be eight letters
6. The proposed name should be provided alongwith its pronunciation and voice over
7. The Panel reserves the right to reject any name, if any of the criteria above is not satisfied.
8. The finalised names may also be reviewed during the course of time of implementation with the approval of PTC in its annual session, in case any reasonable objection is raised by any member
9. The names of tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean will not be repeated.Once used, it will cease to be used again. Thus, the name should be new. It should not be there in the already existing list of any of the RSMCs worldwide including RSMC, New Delhi.

The current list has a total of 169 names including 13 names each from 13 WMO/ESCAP member countries.

Following criteria have been adopted for implementation of the list of names:

1. RSMC, New Delhi will be responsible to name tropical cyclones forming over the North Indian Ocean including Bay of Bengal & the Arabian Sea when they have been diagnosed with maximum sustained surface windspeed of 34 knots (62 kmph) or more as per Section 2.2.2.6.1 of Global Data Processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS) Manual 2017 edition.
2. The name of a TC from South China Sea which crosses Thailand and emerge into the Bay of Bengal as a tropical cyclone will not be changed.
3. Panel Members’ names will be listed alphabetically country-wise.
4. The names will be used sequentially, column-wise.

About World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 193 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), the roots of which were planted at the 1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress. Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, WMO became the specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences a year later. The Secretariat, headquartered in Geneva, is headed by the Secretary-General. Its supreme body is the World Meteorological Congress.