Watch out for ‘Naughty’ seas and strong swells: Incois

Pre-monsoon weather will cause considerable churn in the seas in the next couple of days, a notification from the Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (Incois) said on Friday. High-energy swell waves are forecast affecting the West Coast, South Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep on Saturday and Sunday.

Kallakkadal phenomenon

There is strong indication that high energy swell waves of 2-3 metre high, and periods between 17 and 22 seconds, may churn these seas, the Incois said.

Abrupt change in ocean behaviour here is normally attributed to meteorological events occurring in the far-off Southern Indian Oceanbetween Madagascar and Australia.

Low-pressure areas or stronger weather systems here send out high waves, with no signs in the local winds along the south-west coast of India, in a phenomenon locally known as ‘Kallakkadal’ (the naughty seas).

On Friday, more than one low-pressure area were located South of the Equator (deep South of Sri Lanka). The enhanced activity here is expected to touch off similar activity to North of the Equator (around Sri Lanka) next week.

Bay ‘low’ on course

This is expected to translate into the first pre-monsoon low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, which the US Climate Prediction Centre has been hinting at for a few days now.

Incois said the higher waves from ‘Kallakkadal’ will be first experienced along the West Coast and the Lakshadweep by Saturday morning and subsequently the Bay of Bengal by Sunday. Local reports said on Friday that parts of coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram are already witnessing swell waves with raging seas pushing inland and flooding fishing hamlets.

According to Incois, the wave impact in the Bay of Bengal could be particularly high off the West Coast of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as compared to the East Coast.

Bay swell regime

In the Bay of Bengal, the high swell wave regime is likely to continue and decrease only by around Tuesday. However, the swell energy is likely to be higher on Monday in the Bay of Bengal.

The low lying coasts of Kerala and West Bengal are particularly vulnerable. The high sea event will be monitored in real time using instruments, which have been deployed in the deep sea and near shore, Incois said.

It has even deployed a wave rider buoy off Seychelles for monitoring such events for early warning requirements and there is a plan to deploy one off south of Sri Lanka in the near future.

Caution advised

The Incoois advised communities along the sea shore to be cautious as there is a possibility of surging waves during the high tide times, in the low lying areas of the coasts during such events.

Water-based recreational activity at the coast may be suspended and boats anchored at a fair distance from each other, to avoid collision and damage. Boats may avoid plying near to the coasts since these regions will be highly vulnerable.

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