Construction and Quality of Best Tracks Parameters for Study of Climate Change Impact on Tropical Cyclones over the North Indian Ocean during Satellite Era - Monitoring and Prediction of Tropical Cyclones in the Indian Ocean and Climate Change - page 2

Construction and Quality of Best
Tracks Parameters for Study of
Climate Change Impact on Tropical
Cyclones over the North Indian
Ocean during Satellite Era

M. Mohapatra*, B.K. Bandyopadhyay and Ajit Tyagi
India Meteorological Department, Mausam
Bhavan, Lodi Road, New Delhi-110003
*e-mail: [e-mail]

1. Introduction

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has the responsibility of monitoring
and prediction of cyclonic disturbances (CDs) including tropical cyclone (TC)
and depressions; collection, processing and archival of all data pertaining to
CDs and preparation of best track data over the North Indian Ocean (NIO). A
CD is classified based on the associated sustained surface wind (MSW) (IMD,
2003). The detailed classification over the NIO adopted by IMD is shown in
Table 1. This classification has been used in this study for analyzing interannual
variation of frequency and intensity of CDs over the NIO during satellite era
(1961-2010).

Table 1: Classification of CDs over the NIO

Low pressure system Maximum sustained surface winds in knots (mps)

Low pressure area (L) < 17 (09)

Depression (D) 17-27 (09-14)

Deep depression (DD) 28-33 (15-17)

Cyclonic storm (CS) 34-47 (18-24)

Severe cyclonic storm (SCS) 48-63 (25-32)

Very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) 64-119 (33-61)

Super cyclonic storm (SuCS) 120 (62) and above