Wayanad landslide has Arabian Sea connection… Scientists told the reason for the accident

New Delhi. No one had expected what happened in Wayanad, Kerala on Tuesday morning. So far, 123 people have been confirmed dead due to the landslide. Relief and rescue work is still going on. It is natural to wonder why the mountain suddenly collapsed in the darkness of the night and there was devastation all around. Experts believe that due to the increase in temperature in the Arabian Sea, dense clouds are forming, due to which Kerala is receiving heavy rains in a short time. This is the reason why the risk of landslides is increasing in the hilly areas.

Scientists and experts stressed on landslide forecasting system and construction of safe residential units for the vulnerable population. S. Abhilash, Director, Centre for Advanced Atmospheric Radar Research at Kochi Institute of Science and Technology, said that due to the active monsoon offshore low pressure area, heavy rainfall is occurring in Kasargod, Kannur, Wayanad, Calicut and Malappuram districts, due to which the entire Konkan region is being affected for the last two weeks.

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The soil had become brittle…
The soil has become friable after two weeks of rain. Abhilash said that on Monday, a deep ‘mesoscale’ cloud system formed off the coast in the Arabian Sea and caused extremely heavy rains in Wayanad, Calicut, Malappuram and Kannur, resulting in landslides. Abhilash said, “The clouds were very dense, just like those seen during the Kerala floods in 2019.” He said that scientists have received information about the formation of very dense clouds over the southeast Arabian Sea. He said that sometimes these systems enter the land area, as happened in 2019. Abhilash said, “Our research revealed that the temperature in the southeast Arabian Sea is increasing, due to which the atmosphere above this region, including Kerala, has become thermodynamically unstable.”

Convective rain increased the tension…
The scientist said, ‘This atmospheric instability that helps in the formation of dense clouds is linked to climate change. Earlier, such rains used to usually occur in the northern Konkan region, northern Mangaluru.’ Research by Abhilash and other scientists, published in the journal ‘NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science’ in the year 2022, states that rain on the west coast of India is becoming more convective. This happens when warm, moist air rises in the atmosphere. The pressure decreases as the altitude increases, causing the temperature to drop.

Assessing the landslide is extremely difficult…
According to the India Meteorological Department, several automated weather stations in Thrissur, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, Malappuram and Ernakulam districts recorded rainfall between 19 cm and 35 cm. Abhilash said, ‘Most of the IMD automated weather stations in the region recorded more than 24 cm of rain in 24 hours. Some rain gauges installed by farmers recorded more than 30 cm of rain.’ The weather office said that very heavy rainfall is likely at some places in the state in the next two days. Madhavan Rajeevan, former secretary of the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, said that weather agencies can predict extremely heavy rainfall, but nothing can be said with certainty about landslides.

Tags: Arabian Sea, Kerala News, Weather forecast