Geography
Rare Easterly Winds over the Indian Ocean
- 14 Jun 2019
- 2 min read
- Climate Prediction Centre of the US National Weather Service has said that unusually warm waters in the Arabian Sea have set up a rare band of easterly winds over the Indian Ocean, which has significantly delayed the monsoon onset over the Kerala coast.
- The number of factors has led to a dry spell in India, which is likely to continue throughout June.
- Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO): Its location and strength may play an important role in the development of monsoon over India during the next several weeks.
- Cyclone ‘Vayu’: It took advantage of an MJO wave traversing the West Indian Ocean and adjoining South Arabian Sea.
- Storm initiation: Over the East Indian Ocean and adjoining Bay of Bengal have led to oceanic circulation over North-East and adjoining East-Central Bay.
Madden-Julian Oscillation
- It is an oceanic-atmospheric phenomenon which affects weather activities across the globe. It brings major fluctuation in tropical weather on weekly to monthly timescales.
- The MJO can be defined as an eastward moving 'pulse' of clouds, rainfall, winds and pressure near the equator that typically recurs every 30 to 60 days.
- It’s a traversing phenomenon and is most prominent over the Indian and Pacific Oceans
