Strengthening the Early Detection and Tracking of Tropical Cyclones near Indonesian Waters

Abstract

In early April 2021, the territory of Indonesia, around the province of East Nusa Tenggara in particular, was severely damaged due to being hit by tropical cyclone Seroja. The impact of tropical cyclone Seroja does not only occur in Nusa Tenggara but also in Australia. In fact, the impact that hit Australia exceeded the damage that occurred in East Nusa Tenggara. The impacts caused by tropical cyclone Seroja in East Nusa Tenggara included 181 deaths and 74,222 houses damaged. Tropical cyclones are extreme weather anomalies that hit many countries, especially in the middle latitudes associated with vast oceans, such as the area around the South China Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, such as the Philippines, Japan, America, Australia, Europe, etc. Early detection systems for the genesis of tropical cyclones are still being developed by international collaborations such as The Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) in the Indian Ocean, Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) in the Pacific Ocean, and Prediction and Research Moored, Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA). To find out the early sign of a tropical cyclone, it is characterized by sea surface temperatures > 26.5 C, the growth of very broad and thick convective clouds, and rotating wind speeds of > 63 km/hour. For this reason, continuous observations are needed in the area where the tropical cyclone first developed. Observation equipment required includes satellite observations, buoys, and weather radar. Unfortunately, in the territory of Indonesia, especially in the Indian and Pacific oceans around Indonesia, this equipment is not equipped with such equipment due to very expensive funding factors and vandalism constraints. For this reason, in the future, national and international cooperation will be needed to start building an early warning system for the emergence of tropical cyclones among research centers globally.