IIT-M and German scientists predict cyclone merging
The tremendous havoc and destruction of life and property by these cyclones pose a serious threat to the predominantly agro-based economies of tropical countries.
CHENNAI: A team of researchers from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M), IIT-Hyderabad and Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany recently tackled the problem of merging of tropical cyclones by using a novel, data-driven approach based on the interdisciplinary methodology of complex networks.
Professor R I Sujith of IIT-Madras said, "Analysing cyclone interactions using the novel framework pioneered in this study has the potential to improve the accuracy of the early warning signals provided by meteorological organisations to the government so that they can take pre-emptive and early action to reduce the impact of such disasters."
"A complex network encodes the pattern of interaction of a complex system, and can be directly applied to study the Fujiwhara interaction between two cyclonic vortices. Indicators derived from this methodology were found to clearly distinguish the different stages of mutual interaction between two cyclones and provide an early indication of cyclone merger, often better than conventionally used indicators such as the separation distance between two cyclones, " he added.
"Over the years, tropical cyclones have ravaged the coastlines of not only the Indian subcontinent, but the whole of southern Asia, Australia, and the tropical regions of the Americas, to name a few. The tremendous havoc and destruction of life and property by these cyclones pose a serious threat to the predominantly agro-based economies of tropical countries. Even today, the mechanisms behind the formation and propagation of these weather extremes and their interactions with the neighbouring weather systems lack a sound understanding and are active areas of research and debate among meteorologists worldwide, " said a release from IIT-Madras.
Recently, a team of researchers from both the institutions explained this in an article titled 'Study of Interaction and Complete Merging of Binary Cyclones Using Complex Networks' published in Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science (https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0101714).
