Tropical Cyclone ‘Maarutha’ and Impact
Source : PIB,weather.com, Wikipedia
GS I : Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including waterbodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Why in News?

The depression over East-central Bay of Bengal has turned into the tropical cyclone ‘Maarutha’.

About Maarutha

• Tropical Cyclone Maarutha has made landfall in Myanmar.
• Tropical Cyclone ‘Maarutha’ and Impact : Heavy rainfall continues to be the main threat, which could cause flooding in that country.

Maarutha is the first named storm of the 2017 Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season.

• The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said that Tropical Cyclone Maarutha had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph.
• Maarutha is rapidly decaying, due to its interaction with land.
• Maarutha is forecast to pass through capital city of Myanmar on April 17

Tropical Cyclone

• A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain.
• Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water.
• They derive their energy through the evaporation of water from the ocean surface, which ultimately recondenses into clouds and rain.
• The strong rotating winds of a tropical cyclone are a result of the conservation of angular momentum imparted by the Earth’s rotation as air flows inwards toward the axis of rotation.
• Tropical cyclones are typically between 100 and 2,000 km (62 and 1,243 mi) in diameter.
• Wind blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
• The opposite direction of circulation is due to the Coriolis effect.

What is the difference between Cyclone, Hurricane, Typhoon

• Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone.
• A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean.
• Typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
• Cyclone occurs in the south Pacific or Indian Ocean.

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See Also : Tauktae Cyclonic Storm