Fast Winds, Heavy Rainfall & High Waves had already spread across several regions of western India & Pakistan

Cyclone Biparjoy Churns Toward India and Pakistan.

Cyclone Biparjoy Makes Landfall Near Western India and Southern Pakistan Coast in June 2023.
After more than a week of activity in the Arabian Sea, Cyclone Biparjoy reached the coast near Western India and Southern Pakistan in June 2023. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 satellite captured an image of this natural-color storm on June 14, a day before its expected landfall.
The long-lasting cyclone had a wind speed of 129 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour) on June 14, making it a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. The storm spent eight days in the Arabian Sea, gradually moving towards the north until it turned eastward on June 14.
The fast winds, heavy rainfall, and high waves had already spread across several regions of western India. Reports of multiple fatalities, including drownings along the Mumbai coast, have been received.

Biparjoy was estimated to make landfall around 5:30 a.m. local time on June 15. With sustained winds of 125 to 135 kilometers per hour (78 to 84 miles per hour), it affected the densely populated cities of Gujarat in western India and Karachi in Pakistan as an extremely severe cyclonic storm. In preparation for the cyclone's arrival, over 30,000 people and 200,000 animals were reportedly evacuated to higher ground.
Biparjoy formed as a cyclonic system on the morning of June 6. According to Rakesh Mathew, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, the sea surface temperature in the Arabian Sea was between 31 to 32 degrees Celsius (88 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit) at the beginning of June, which was 2 to 4 degrees Celsius (4 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit) above average. Scientists consider a sea surface temperature above 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit) necessary to sustain a tropical cyclone.


Unusually warm waters helped intensify Biparjoy's rapid intensification twice during its lifespan. According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), between June 6 and 7, the storm's wind speed increased from 55 to 139 kilometers per hour (34 to 86 miles per hour). The cyclone intensified again between June 9 and 10, with wind speeds reaching 120 to 196 kilometers per hour (75 to 122 miles per hour), making it a Category 3 hurricane. The storm maintained this intensity until June 11 when an astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured an image of it from above.

Hot sea surface temperatures have contributed to the unusually long lifespan of a cyclone. According to the India Meteorological Department, a cyclone in the Arabian Sea could become the longest-lasting cyclone in recent history, surpassing Cyclone Kyarr in 2019, which lasted for nine days and 15 hours. As of June 14, the Arabian Sea has kept Biparjoy active for more than eight days.



Raghuram Murthugudde, a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, who studies the role of oceans in climate change, said, "The reason for Biparjoy's long duration is that it is feeding on the warm waters of the Arabian Sea." "Biparjoy is an example of how climate change is contributing to the persistence and longer duration of warming cyclones in the upper oceans."


Cyclones are relatively rare in the Arabian Sea, but they are becoming more frequent with increasing sea surface temperatures. A study conducted by researchers in India in 2021, led by scientists, found that cyclones have occurred more frequently and lasted longer in the past four decades, and these occurrences were linked to changes in sea surface temperatures.

The image was taken by astronaut Lauren Dauphin using the Nikon D4 digital camera with a 20mm lens on June 11, 2023, and it was provided by the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) using VIIRS data.

The image was taken as part of the International Space Station's Earth Observation Facility and Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at Johnson Space Center. The image was captured by a member of the Expedition 69 crew.

The image has been cropped, enhanced for contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station program supports the Laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab's efforts to help astronauts take pictures of Earth, which will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed in the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, available from NASA/JSC.



Source- earthobservatory.
Translated by Emily Cassidy.


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