Why is it in the news?

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced that a low-pressure system over the East-central Bay of Bengal is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm, named Dana.
• It is projected to make landfall along the coasts of north Odisha and West Bengal with wind speeds reaching up to 120 km/h.
• Cyclone Dana will be the second cyclone to form in the North Indian Ocean within two months, following Cyclone Asna in the Arabian Sea in late August.
• The name “Dana” means “generosity” in Arabic and was chosen by Qatar, according to the standard convention for naming tropical cyclones in the region.

The Process of Naming Cyclones

• In 2000, a group of nations, known as the WMO/ESCAP (World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), which included Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, established a system for naming cyclones in the region.
• After each country submitted suggestions, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) finalized the list of names.
• The group expanded in 2018 to include five additional countries: Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
• The IMD released a list of 169 cyclone names in April 2020, with each country contributing 13 suggestions.

Importance of Naming Cyclones

• Naming cyclones simplifies communication, making it easier for the public and the scientific community to remember and identify individual storms.
• It aids in raising awareness, disseminating warnings quickly, and increasing community preparedness, especially when multiple cyclonic systems are present in a region.

Naming Conventions

• Countries proposing names must adhere to specific guidelines to ensure neutrality and appropriateness. The proposed names should be:

1) Free from political, religious, and cultural connotations.

2) Non-offensive and respectful to all populations.

3) Short, easy to pronounce, and not exceeding eight letters.

4) Accompanied by a pronunciation guide.

5) Unique, with no repetitions in the list.

• The proposed names are organized alphabetically by country, with each name used on a rotational basis when a cyclone occurs. For example, after the name Nisarga (suggested by Bangladesh), subsequent storms were named Gati (from India), Nivar (from Iran), and so on.