Climate change led to April storm surge

PANAJI: The storm surge last month and its worrisome impact is seen by scientists as one of the manifestations of the effects of global climate change and the vulnerability of Goa’s coastline to weather events occurring thousands of miles away.

Studies by scientists of national institute of oceanography (NIO) have shown that Goa’s coast can be susceptible to natural phenomenon and events even in the sensitive Indonesian region on the east coast.

But the storm surge for three days, April 21, 22 and 23, was caused nearer home by rough seas in the

south west

region of Arabian sea. “The swell is a manifestation of a local depression or drop in atmospheric pressure in a distant part of the ocean. The swell being longer in wave length than the normal wind waves can travel long distances without decreasing. It continues at same pace and energy, as it travels to the shore,” says Anthony Joseph, former NIO scientist said.

The swell crashing into the state’s shoreline can be compared to a long range missile, as it produces destructive impact even from a distance.

The waves thrown up by the 2004 tsunami in the eastern region in

Sunda

trench - considered by some as one of deadliest tsunamis in history - took nearly eight hours to reach Goa’s state’s shores from the other side of India’s coastline. Though primarily 12 countries were affected, people from more than 40 countries, as tourists, were killed in the disaster.

The storm surge for three days in April last week was not as turbulent as the Ockhi-aided one in December 2017. Stakeholders on the beaches shifted their equipment and appliances to safety, unlike last time, before damage could be done.

“When the tide is high, it gets superimposed on the normal tide wave and produces higher impact,” Joseph said. The tsunami disaster triggered efforts among countries on the rim of Indian Ocean and beyond to install early warning systems to alert coastal communities.

“An EWS can be good enough, provided it conveys the information about a natural or weather event expediently to people at large through an efficient communication system,” says Dr A K Saran, senior principal scientist, NIO.