10 June 2008

Consequences of Cyclone Gonu

It has been just over a year since the Super Cyclone Storm Gonu (category 5 SSHS). It is the strongest storm to ever hit the Arabian Sea, with top winds of 240 km/h (150 mph). The US experienced the wrath of a category 5 storm in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina, and is still recovering from its damage. This leads me to ask, what have been the impacts of Gonu?  What consequences have you seen from this category 5 storm?

[Cyclone Gonu June 4, 2007 09:00 UTC.  Image Source: NASA / Aqua Satellite / MODIS]

Social Impacts
Wikipedia reports that Gonu's devastation reached across Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran.  Sadly, 72 people died and there was an estimated $4.2 billion (USD) worth of damage- RO1.25-1.5 billion ($4 billion USD) in Oman alone.  
[Picture by David Dennison. Image source: BBC]
I have read about the torrential winds, heavy rains and high waves.  Images of flooded streets, destroyed cars, the damaged Al Qurm National Park, etc. are haunting.  What impacts have you seen?  Do you still see a year later?

Climate Impacts
One interesting article I read, stated that Gonu delayed the arrival of South-West Monsoon last year.  In the Arabian Sea the SW Monsoon is very influential on phytoplankton through its impact:
  • on upwelling nutrient-rich deep waters to the coast
  • on transferring this water to other regions, and
  • on keeping phytoplankton in the euphotic zone where photosynthesis can occur
[Goes, et. al (2005) Science 308, 545-7. DOI 10.1126/science.1106610]. So, in the ocean what were the consequences from this delay of the monsoon? How was the production of phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, etc affected? Did delays cascade up the food web?