Impact Assessment of Tropical Cyclones Amphan and Nisarga in 2020 in the Northern Indian Ocean

K. K. Basheer Ahammed, Arvind Chandra Pandey (), Bikash Ranjan Parida, Wasim and Chandra Shekhar Dwivedi
Additional contact information
K. K. Basheer Ahammed: Department of Geography, School of Natural Resource Management, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi 835222, India
Arvind Chandra Pandey: Department of Geoinformatics, School of Natural Resource Management, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi 835222, India
Bikash Ranjan Parida: Department of Geoinformatics, School of Natural Resource Management, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi 835222, India
Wasim: Department of Geoinformatics, School of Natural Resource Management, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi 835222, India
Chandra Shekhar Dwivedi: Department of Geography, School of Natural Resource Management, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi 835222, India

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: The Northern Indian Ocean (NIO) is one of the most vulnerable coasts to tropical cyclones (TCs) and is frequently threatened by global climate change. In the year 2020, two severe cyclones formed in the NIO and devastated the Indian subcontinent. Super cyclone Amphan , which formed in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) on 15 May 2020, made landfall along the West Bengal coast with a wind speed of above 85 knots (155 km/h). The severe cyclone Nisarga formed in the Arabian Sea (ARS) on 1 June 2020 and made landfall along the Maharashtra coast with a wind speed above 60 knots (115 km/h). The present study has characterized both TCs by employing past cyclonic events (1982–2020), satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST), wind speed and direction, rainfall dataset, and regional elevation. Long-term cyclonic occurrences revealed that the Bay of Bengal encountered a higher number of cyclones each year than the ARS. Both cyclones had different intensities when making landfall; however, the regional elevation played a significant role in controlling the cyclonic wind and associated hazards. The mountain topography on the east coast weakened the wind, while the deltas on the west coast had no control over the wind. Nisarga weakened to 30 knots (56 km/h) within 6 h from making landfall, while Amphan took 24 h to weaken to 30 knots (56 km/h). We analyzed precipitation patterns during the cyclones and concluded that Amphan had much more (1563 mm) precipitation than Nisarga (684 mm). Furthermore, the impact on land use land cover (LULC) was examined in relation to the wind field. The Amphan wind field damaged 363,837 km 2 of land, whereas the Nisarga wind field affected 167,230 km 2 of land. This research can aid in the development of effective preparedness strategies for disaster risk reduction during cyclone impacts along the coast of India.

Keywords: tropical cyclone; Amphan; Nisarga; SST; GPM; LULC; Sundarbans; MODIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/3992/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/3992/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:3992-:d:1076855

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().