Half-century of cyclone data puts researchers on track to explore future risks

Phys.org  January 19, 2023 Tropical cyclones (TCs) with genesis in the Coral Sea present significant hazards to coastal regions in their surroundings. In addition, the erratic nature of TC tracks is not well understood in this region. Researchers in Australia grouped Coral Sea TC tracks over the last fifty years based on K-means clustering of the maximum wind-weighted centroids to extract valuable new cyclone power, track curvature and location related information to predict their behaviour. They assessed the TC track variance and curvature (sinuosity) and identified three well-defined clusters of TC tracks. The results showed differing predominant directions of TC […]

New kind of tropical cyclone identified in the Indian Ocean

Phys.org  November 28, 2022 Researchers in Australia focused on the regional wind variability that controls the intensity of cold-water upwelling off Sumatra – a key feature of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Their analysis of daily atmospheric data revealed the existence of convectively triggered synoptic-scale atmospheric cyclones in the South-East Tropical Indian Ocean (SETIO). The northern branch of the cyclones corresponded to westerly equatorial wind events, whereas the eastern branch involved north-westerly winds that operate to suppress cold-water upwelling off Sumatra’s west coast. Data for the period 1988–2022 showed that 5–9 SETIO cyclones normally form each year during the boreal […]