Preprint Short Note Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Did COVID-19 Lockdown Brew “Amphan” into a Super Cyclone?

Version 1 : Received: 1 July 2020 / Approved: 3 July 2020 / Online: 3 July 2020 (12:06:09 CEST)

How to cite: Vinoj, V.; Swain, D. Did COVID-19 Lockdown Brew “Amphan” into a Super Cyclone?. Preprints 2020, 2020070033. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202007.0033.v1 Vinoj, V.; Swain, D. Did COVID-19 Lockdown Brew “Amphan” into a Super Cyclone?. Preprints 2020, 2020070033. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202007.0033.v1

Abstract

The world witnessed one of the largest lockdowns in the history of mankind ever, spread over months in an attempt to contain the contact spreading of the novel coronavirus induced COVID-19. As billions around the world stood witness to the staggered lockdown measures, a storm brewed up in the urns of the rather hot Bay of Bengal (BoB) in the Indian Ocean realm. When Thailand proposed the name “Amphan” (pronounced as “Um-pun” meaning ‘the sky’), way back in 2004, little did they realize that it was the christening of the 1st super cyclone (Category-5 hurricane) of the century in this region and the strongest on the globe this year. At the peak, Amphan clocked wind speeds of 168 mph (Joint Typhoon Warning Center) with the pressure drop to 925 h.Pa. What started as a depression in the southeast BoB at 00 UTC on 16th May 2020 developed into a Super Cyclone in less than 48 hours and finally made landfall in the evening hours of 20th May 2020 through the Sundarbans between West Bengal and Bangladesh. Did the impact of the COVID-19 induced lockdown drive an otherwise typical pre-monsoon tropical depression into a super cyclone?

Keywords

COVID19; Cyclone; Aerosols; Lockdown; Climate

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science and Meteorology

Comments (1)

Comment 1
Received: 5 July 2020
Commenter: PARTHA PRATIM GOGOI
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Comment: Very thought provoking and interesting finding indeed. Researchers around the world would be bound to start all the analyses from a complete dimension at all after this. All the complex equations of the Earth System Modeling have to redefined or modified post the Covid-19 episode. Deep faith in science energised again.

Thanks.
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