Explained: What is Dvorak Technique? Uses, Functioning & Significance

Practice Question

Explain the wide usage of the Dvorak technique by the meteorological department.

Context

Recently the American meteorologist Vernon Dvorak passed away, the one who gave Dvorak technique that continues to be widely relied upon by forecasters till date.

About Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT)

It is originally named the Dvorak technique.

• It was developed by the American meteorologist Vernon Dvorak, in 1969.
• ADT is an upgraded Dvorak technique, thus named Advanced Dvorak Technique, coined by the National Hurricane Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
• The Dvorak technique was a cloud pattern recognition technique based on a conceptual model of the development and decay of the tropical cyclone.
• Functioning of ADT:
  • It is a forecasting technique that uses satellite images from polar-orbiting satellites to examine the features of developing tropical storms (hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons).
  • The images in day time use the visible spectrum, while at night it uses infrared images to observe the ocean.
• Significance:
  • It helps forecasters in locating the eye of the storm.
  • It helps scientists to measure the cyclone’s convective cloud pattern like curved bands, eye and central dense or cold region, and shear. 
  • It gives the best estimates of the cyclone intensity which is a vital component while issuing weather warnings.
• Shortcoming: This tool, experts claim, cannot help make any predictions, measure wind or pressure, or any other meteorological parameters associated with the cyclone. 

Also watch a detailed video on Ocean Warming by Himanshu Sharma Sir our Faculty for Geography: for IAS Preparation :

Wide Usage of the Dvorak Technique

Following are the reasons why meteorologists depend more on satellite-based imageries and combine them with the available ocean data at the time of forecasting the intensity and wind speed of tropical cyclones:

• Ocean observations are still limited, to date. 
• There are many vast regions across the four oceans that have not been fully examined with meteorological instruments. 
• Ocean observations are mostly taken by deploying buoys or dedicated ships, but the number of observations from the seas is still not sufficient across the world.

News Source:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-climate/dvorak-cyclone-intensity-estimation-technique-explained-8165811/

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