Regional Specialized Meteorological Center

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A Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (also Regional Specialized Meteorological Center and Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre) is responsible for the distribution of information, advisories, and warnings regarding the specific program they have a part of, agreed by consensus at the World Meteorological Organization as part of the World Weather Watch.

Tropical Cyclone Programme

There are six such meteorological centres and an additional six regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres utilized for naming of tropical cyclones and the distribution of tropical cyclone advisories and warnings:

• Southwest Pacific Ocean: RSMC Nadi-Tropical Cyclone Centre - Fiji Meteorological Service (Nadi, Fiji)
• Southwest Indian Ocean: RSMC La Reunion-Tropical Cyclone Centre / Météo France (Réunion island, French Overseas Department)
• Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea: RSMC - Tropical Cyclones New Delhi / India Meteorological Department (New Delhi, India)
• Western North Pacific Ocean and South China Sea - RSMC Tokyo / Japan Meteorological Agency (Tokyo, Japan)
• Central North Pacific Ocean - RSMC Honolulu Central Pacific Hurricane Center (Honolulu, Hawaii, USA)
• Northeast Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and north Atlantic Ocean - RSMC Miami / National Hurricane Center^[1]

Major basins

The major tropical cyclone basins and the center in charge of each one.

Traditionally, areas of tropical cyclone formation are divided into seven basins. These include the north Atlantic Ocean, the eastern and western parts of the Pacific Ocean (considered separately because tropical cyclones rarely form in the central Pacific), the southwestern Pacific, the southwestern and southeastern Indian Oceans, and the northern Indian Ocean. The western Pacific is the most active and the north Indian the least active. An average of 86 tropical cyclones of tropical storm intensity form annually worldwide, with 47 reaching hurricane/typhoon strength, and 20 becoming intense tropical cyclones (at least of Category 3 intensity).^[3]

• Northwestern Pacific Ocean: Tropical storms in this region often affect China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Taiwan, as well as countries in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam and parts of Indonesia, plus numerous Oceanian islands. This is by far the most active basin, accounting for one-third of all tropical cyclone activity. The coast of China sees the most landfalling tropical cyclones worldwide.^[4] The Philippines receives an average of 6-7 tropical cyclone landfalls per year.^[5]
• Northeastern Pacific Ocean: This is the second most active basin and has the highest number of storms per unit area. Storms that form here often affect western Mexico, and less commonly the Continental United States (in particular California), or northern Central America. No hurricane included in the modern database has made landfall in California; however, historical records from 1858 speak of a storm that brought San Diego winds over 75 mph/65 kts (marginal hurricane force), though it is not known if the storm actually made landfall.^[6] Tropical storms in 1939, 1976 and 1997 brought gale-force winds to California.^[6]
• Northern Atlantic Ocean: This region includes the North Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. Tropical cyclone formation here varies widely from year to year, ranging from one to over twenty per year with an average of around ten.^[7] The United States Atlantic coast, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and Bermuda are frequently affected by storms in this basin. Venezuela, the south-east of Canada and Atlantic Macaronesian islands also are occasionally affected. Many of the more intense Atlantic storms are Cape Verde-type hurricanes, which form off the west coast of Africa near the Cape Verde islands. Occasionally, a hurricane that evolves into an extratropical cyclone can reach western Europe, including Hurricane Gordon (2006), which spread high winds across Spain and the British Isles in September 2006.^[8] Hurricane Vince, which made landfall on the southwestern coast of Spain as a tropical depression in September 2005, is the only known system to impact the Iberian Peninsula as a tropical cyclone.^[9]
• Northern Indian Ocean: This basin is divided into two areas, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, with the Bay of Bengal dominating (5 to 6 times more activity). This basin's season has a double peak: one in April and May, before the onset of the monsoon, and another in October and November, just after.^[10] The most deadly tropical cyclones have formed in this basin, including the 1970 Bhola cyclone that killed 200,000 people. Nations affected include India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, and Pakistan. Rarely, a tropical cyclone that forms in this basin affects the Arabian Peninsula.
• Southwestern Pacific Ocean: Tropical activity in this region largely affects Australia and Oceania. Tropical storms rarely reach the vicinity of Brisbane, Australia and into New Zealand, usually during or after extratropical transition.^[11]
• Southeastern Indian Ocean: Tropical activity in this region affects Australia and Indonesia. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the most frequently hit portion of Australia is between Exmouth and Broome in Western Australia.^[12]
• Southwestern Indian Ocean: Despite nearly a half century of historical data, research at Reunion Island into tropical cyclones has been a priority only since 1999, when Météo-France began assigning additional personnel for research purposes.^[13] Cyclones forming in this area can affect Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Réunion, Comoros, Tanzania, and Kenya.^[13]

Tropical cyclone warning centers

There are six main Tropical Cyclone warning centers in the southern hemisphere which are:

• Southeast Indian Ocean (south of 10°S). TCWC - Perth / Bureau of Meteorology
• Arafura Sea and Gulf of Carpentaria. TCWC - Darwin / Bureau of Meteorology
• Coral Sea. TCWC - Brisbane / Bureau of Meteorology
• Solomon Sea and Gulf of Papua. TCWC - Port Moresby / National Weather Service forecast office, Papua New Guinea
• Tasman Sea. TCWC - Wellington, New Zealand / Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited[2]
• Southeast Indian Ocean (north of 10°S). TCWC - Jakarta / Meteorology and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia

Environmental Emergency Response Programme

There are eight meteorological centres for distribution of transport, deposition, and dispersion modeling, in the event of an environmental catastrophe that crosses international borders:^[14]

• Exeter, England RSMC - For Europe and Africa
• Toulouse, France RSMC - For Europe and Africa
• Montréal, Canada RSMC - For the Americas, with backup responsibility for the Southwest Pacific
• Washington, D.C, United States RSMC - For the Americas, with backup responsibility for the Southwest Pacific
• Beijing, China RSMC - For Asia
• Obninsk, Russia RSMC - For Asia
• Tokyo, Japan RSMC - For Asia
• Melbourne, Australia RSMC - For the Southwest Pacific^[15]

See also

• Tropical cyclone
• World Meteorological Organization

References

External links

• US National Hurricane Center - North Atlantic, Eastern Pacific
• Central Pacific Hurricane Center - Central Pacific
• Japan Meteorological Agency - NW Pacific
• India Meteorological Department - Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea
• Météo-France - La Reunion - South Indian Ocean from Africa to 90°E
• Fiji Meteorological Service - South Pacific east of 160°E, north of 25°S