Analysis of major cyclone storms ‘mocha 2023’, ‘Mandous 2022’ of recent years over India

Abstract

The current study outlines how ocean conditions contributed to the development, intensification and dissipation of the extremely severe cyclonic storms “Mocha” (ESCS) (2023), severe cyclonic storm (SCS) “Mandous” (2022), very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) “Asani” (2022), and (ESCS) “Tauktae” (2021). ‘Mocha’ tropical cyclones (TC) formed over warm waters over the southeast Bay of Bengal and the adjacent northern Andaman Sea on May 11–12, 2023, ‘Mandous’ over the southeast Bay of Bengal on December 6-7, 2022. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) generated ECMWF reanalysis V5 (ERA5), which is used in the present study to analyse the sea surface temperature (SST), latent heat flux, relative vorticity (RV), specific humidity, and relative humidity during the lifetime of the storm. The analysis of the TC’s sea surface temperature data from satellites suggests that a much warmer SST was present throughout the cyclone’s existence, which may have been the primary reason for the TC’s fast intensification. Latent Heat flow (LHF) was found to be high along with SST values. As the TC approached the coast, an RV value that was both positive and significant was discovered. During intensification, Specific and Relative Humidity also had high levels.