Cyclone Fani holds a significant place in the history of India’s weather phenomena. The severe cyclonic storm is the first to have emerged in April in India’s oceanic neighbourhood since as far back as 1976, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). An examination of IMD records reveals that this anomaly is likely attributable to global warming, with the heating up of the Bay of Bengal basin playing a crucial role in its formation.
Understanding Cyclone Formation
The formation of tropical cyclones, such as Cyclone Fani, is not an instantaneous process. It all starts with depressions or a gradual build-up of warm air coupled with pockets of low pressure. In the Indian neighbourhood, roughly 35% of such formations escalate into full-blown cyclones, while a mere 7% intensify to the level of very severe cyclones. All cyclones are grouped and ranked on a 5-point scale by the IMD.
Based on the IMD’s cyclone-statistics unit’s data, the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea jointly saw about 46 severe cyclonic storms between 1965 and 2017. This number shows the vast climate variance and the potential for extreme weather conditions in these aquatic regions.
About the India Meteorological Department (IMD)
The IMD is the principal agency under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India. Its core responsibilities include meteorological observations, weather forecasting, and seismology. Operating out of its headquarters in Delhi, the IMD runs hundreds of observation stations across the nation and Antarctica.
Additional regional offices are located in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Nagpur, and Guwahati. As one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres of the World Meteorological Organization, the IMD has the mandate to forecast, name, and distribute warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean region, encompassing the Malacca Straits, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf.
| Key Facts about IMD |
|---|
| Parent Organisation: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India |
| Headquarters: Delhi |
| Regional Offices: Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Nagpur, Guwahati |
| Scope of Work: Forecasting, naming, and distribution of warnings for tropical cyclones |
The Role of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)
The INCOIS is an autonomous body under the Government of India, specifically the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), and is based in Hyderabad. Established in 1999 as part of the MoES, it is now a unit of the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO).
This institution is tasked with providing high-quality ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies, and the scientific community. These objectives are achieved through sustained ocean observations and continuous improvements driven by systematic and focused research.
