Do you want to name the next storm?

We all have been familiar with the super cyclone 'AMPHAN'. Let's have a look on the creation of naming of these type of severe natural disasters.

In meteorology ,a cyclone is a large scale air mass that rotates around a strong centre of low atmospheric  pressure. It is a kind of atmospheric disturbance. Air rushes spirally towards the centre and the velocity of wind is more than 34 knots (1 knot= 1.85 Km/hr). The practice of naming cyclone(tropical and subtropical) started years ago in order to identify them easily. It creates less confusion   than to remember the storms' number or its longitude and  latitude. Cyclones,typhoons,hurricanes ,willy willy etc. all are the same, different names have been given just for happening these tropical storms in different parts of the world, e.g., cyclones in Indian Ocean, typhoons in the pacific, hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, willy willy in Australia.
Clement Wragge was the pioneer in naming storms. The naming for the cyclones are officially done by Tropical Cyclone  Warning Centers (total 5 centers in the world ) and Regional Specialized Meteorological  Centres(total 6 centers in the world)under the supervision of World Meteorological Organisation(WMO).They retain  their names throughout their lifetimes to facilitate the effective  communication of forecasts and storm related hazards to the general public.This is very important when multiple storms are occurring simultaneously  in the same ocean basin. Cyclones occurring in North Indian Ocean are  named by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD/RSMC, New Delhi) and in South -West Indian Ocean by Mauritious Meteorological Services. These centres can request the name to be retired or withdrawn  when the cyclone causes a great casualty, a large number of deaths and amount of  damage/impact. At early naming procedure, female names  from A to W, leaving out Q,U,X,Y and Z were used. Subsequent protests by women's liberation bodies in the 60s and 70s compelled to change the naming procedures to include males name in  1978.
The Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) of Tropical Cyclones in New Delhi is assigned the responsibility of issuing weather outlooks and tropical cyclone advisories for the countries in the bordering of Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. This is also the agency which is responsible for naming the cyclones in this region. Member  countries are  Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand.
After long deliberations among the member countries, the naming of the tropical cyclones over north Indian Ocean commenced from September 2004.  The recent Cyclone Amphan will be the last to be used in the previous list. A fresh list of names of tropical cyclones including representation from five new member countries viz., Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen (Total 13 member countries) will be used in alphabetical order  for storms after Amphan. The Panel members' names are listed alphabetically country wise, starting with Bangladesh followed by India, Maldives and so on.The general public can also suggest names to the IMD  to be included in list  and  the name should be short and readily understood when broadcasted. The suggested names can be  sent to the following address:
The Director  General of Meteorology ,
India Meteorological  Department ,
Mausam Bhawan,Lodi Road ,
New Delhi-110003.

By Jayashree Dey Sarkar.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone_naming
https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/focus-areas/natural-hazards-and-disaster-risk-reduction/tropical-cyclones/Naming
Meteorology by S.R .Gadekar

Sun as a Paintbrush!

Michael Papadakis uses the largest paintbrush in the world: The Sun.For years,Michael Papadakis made art in the traditional way, using paint and paintbrush.It wasn't until his last year of college that his teacher reminded him-you can make art with anything.
'Heliography' from Helios,meaning ''Sun'', and Graphein is the photographic process is actually a wireless telegraph that signals by flashes of sunlight reflected by a mirror.It was invented by Joseph Nicephore Niepce around 1822.

In his art form papadakis employs a variety of magnifying glasses and reflectors to harness the power of the Sun to burn his art into pieces of wood.He developed his art form himself by doing constant experiment during his 14-month voyage from South Korea to Greece.
''I saw a magnifying glass on my friend's table and thought I bet it would work to draw,I went outside,and it worked.''
So, using Sun art,Papadakis worked on everything from portraits and landscapes to signage,a promoting it as a green,alternative source of advertising.
According to him,each piece takes from 1 to 50 hours, depending on its complexity.He can work anywhere there is Sun and that includes from the 1st ray of light until it hits the horizon.He likes to work in beautiful places in nature, primarily because he videos the process and feels *the environment is a key part of the art*.
The light he is focusing on his work is so intense that even the reflection is enough to cause eye damage.He uses UV-protective clothing,a hat and sunglasses.The Sun after all,is hot and prolonged exposure to its rays is dangerous.
apadakis talks about how small children are often destructive with magnifying glasses, using them to hurt insects or burn leaves.He hopes to inspire them to learn about their creative potential and be less destructive as children --- and as adults.
By Kinza Sarkar.
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliograph
https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/sunlight-art/

https://www.storypick.com/michael-papadakis-sunlight-art/

Why Do Corpses Float?

The general idea is that because a man is alive he can make himself stay above the water,whereas a dead person has no abilities,therefore,he has to sink. A person only start to sink into the water when the air in his lungs is replaced with water.Once the body is submerged under the water,then the body stays under the water until the bacteria in the gut and the cavity in the chest can produce enough gases such as methane,hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide in order to float on the surface of water like balloon.The building up if these particular gases in a human body can take up to weeks sometimes.The depth of a drowning person gets to before and after dying depends upon several factors among which are the type of clothing worn by drowning person,the body's orientation and height from which the person fell into the water,the trashing movements of feet and arm etc.
The greater the density of a substance the greater its ability to submerge in water.The dead body is denser than water hence it sinks while at the bottom of the water,gases which are lighter than the water build up in the dead body make the body less dense.After sometimes(around 24 hours), the weight of the body becomes less denser than the water,hence the body floats.

When the body is submerged then it does not necessarily mean that all the body parts are inflated at the same time.First,the torso part of the body which consists of most of the bacteria get bloated more than the head and the limbs.Since the limbs and the head can only drape forward from the body,the corpses tend to rotate such that the Tori floats face-down with the arm and legs hanging under it.

As the body sinks into deep water,the pressure of the water tends to compress gasses in the the abdominal and chest cavities with the result that the body displaces less water as it sinks deeper and consequently becomes less and less buoyant,the further down it goes.Decomposition continues underwater and then more and more gas is collected and the body may start floating again.This is also known as a ''re-float'' in term of rescue workers.

The length of time that elapses before the body rises depends on the temperature of the water also.It the water is warm, the formation of gas within the body occurs rapidly and the body may rise to the surface in a day or two.

However, if the water is cold,bacterial action takes place very slowly and it may take several weeks before the body appears on the surface.

By Kinza Sarkar.

Source: tutorialspoint.com

quora.com

indianapublicmedia.org