The Arctic is about to welcome another big cyclone. Though probably not as large, intense and long-lasting as last year's Great Arctic Cyclone, it is rather intruiging to see a cyclone of similar magnitude occur so soon after the last one. It makes one wonder whether the Arctic will be seeing more of these cyclones in years to come. And if so, perhaps they should get names.
This is discussed by R. Gates in the guest post below.
To name or not to name? And if so, what to name? I must admit that I have a bit of bias on this issue, as it was my posting here in 2012 that came up with the name of the "Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012". Now of course, we even have a Wiki link on it.
Just to remind some of you of the scope of the unusual summer Arctic storm. It was a monster, by any standard:
The issue now is whether it is time to begin to officially name these storms something a bit more interesting than GAC-2012, or PAC-2013, etc. The underlying assumption may be that these "very rare" events of large summer cyclones may in fact become more common as the northern hemisphere climate and specfically the Arctic rapidly change into a new regime due to Anthropogenic forcing. This assumption, may or may not be valid, though there is some research to back it up.
If indeed we do see an increase in summer cyclone activity in the Arctic, it will be useful in the future to identify exactly which cyclone we are referring to by name and year. One suggestion, which I personally find excellent is to use the Inuit language in naming the storms. This both brings recognition to the Inuit culture and their history in the Arctic, but also their current situation in being the first group that witnesses significant effects from Anthropogenic climate change. It was further suggested that more complex Inuit names might be "lost in translation" or ignored by non-Inuit media, thus, we might want to chose more basic Inuit names, rather than more complex (i.e. Akna versus Akkilokipok).
As way of a brief history in the naming of storms, very large storms have always been given some name, either one that is unofficial and "sticks", such as "The Great Storm of 1703"...
...or "The Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012".
But the official or semi-offical naming of big storms, specifically Tropical Cyclones or Hurricanes began at least as early as 1825, with the naming of large hurricane that struck Puerto Rico. For a full history of the naming of storms and the reasoning behind it, see: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/reason.html
It really began as a matter of accuracy and convenience for hurricanes, and last year the Weather Channel decided to begin naming winter storms based on a specific set of criteria for the storm. We now have the opportunity, as a group here on the Arctic Sea Ice Blog, to bring even more attention to the changes going on in the Arctic by deciding to name Arctic Cyclones (again, based on a specfic set of criteria), for the sake of accuracy and convenience when discussing these storms in the future.
Let the discussion begin!