Course of cyclones becoming unpredictable due to climate change: INCOIS-Andhra University study

The study found that cyclones are becoming more elusive with hurricanes rapidly gaining strength and re-expanding after weakening with scientists facing new challenges in predicting them and designing damage prevention plans.

Hyderabad: Rising global temperature, sea surface temperatures due to climate change has led to cyclones becoming more elusive and rapidly gaining strength and re-expanding after weakening with scientists facing new challenges in predicting them and designing damage prevention plans, a new study has revealed.

The study jointly by INCOIS (India's National Center for Ocean Information Services) and Andhra University (AU) in Visakhapatnam suggested that these types of changes will increase further in the future. The researchers studied data on hurricanes that formed in oceans around the world between 1981 and 2020.

The data have been collected by the American company IB Trax. Project scientist N.D.Manikantha said that he analyzed the data about the hurricanes and learned about the patterns of cyclones. Manikantha said that the cyclones are gaining strength again after weakening in the recent past and are creating destruction while reaching the coastal areas.

Scientist Dr. Sudhir Joseph said that based on the study of 3,800 cyclones that have occurred in the world in the last 40 years, there has been an 80% increase in the number of cyclones in the last 20 years. Analyzing the results of the study further, he said that the patterns of climate change can be sensed with the use of AI and other technologies.

T. Sreenivasakumar, Director of INCOIS, said that tracking the changes in cyclones would benefit future research and provide more accurate information to the public. The number of severe storms in the Pacific Ocean has increased significantly, the study said. According to the study, Hurricane Freddie in March 2023 weakened five times and then re-expanded and flooded different parts of Africa for a month.

Likewise, Cyclone Fani in Odisha in 2019 followed a similar pattern. InCois project scientist Manikantha explained that it appeared to have weakened while crossing the coast and then erupted again causing severe damage to life and property.