Beware of Waves of Up to 6 Meters in the South Indian Ocean, NTB

The public is advised to be alert for extreme weather until this weekend. Potential for high waves up to 6 m in the Indian Ocean.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI. The original article can be found in Waspadai Gelombang Hingga 6 Meter di Samudra Hindia Selatan NTB

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

High waves hit the Ampenan Beach area in Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara, on Wednesday (13/3/2024).

MATARAM, KOMPAS — Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency Zainuddin Abdul Madjid Meteorological Station or ZAM predicts extreme weather to take place in West Nusa Tenggara until this weekend. The public is advised to be aware of rain accompanied by strong winds and high waves.

Head of the ZAM Meteorological Station, Satria Topan Primadi, said that rainfall could occur with moderate to heavy intensity and be accompanied by lightning and strong winds. "Potentially occurring in all regions NTB, March 10-16 2024," he said in a press release received by Kompas, Wednesday (13/3/2024) .

This condition can occur from morning to early morning, starting from North Lombok, Mataram, West Lombok, Central Lombok, East Lombok, Sumbawa, West Sumbawa, Bima, Bima City, and Dompu .

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KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

High waves hit the Ampenan Beach area in Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara, on Wednesday (13/3/2024).

According to Satria, BMKG is monitoring the weather conditions throughout Indonesia, where it currently shows significant atmospheric dynamism. This has an impact on the potential for increased rainfall in several regions of Indonesia.

The atmospheric conditions indicate the activity of several phenomena that support the formation of quite intense rain clouds in the near future. These phenomena include the activation of Equatorial Rossby atmospheric waves and the activation of the Madden Julian Oscillation in the Indonesian region.

Equatorial Rossby atmospheric waves are an atmospheric dynamic phenomenon that indicates the potential for rain cloud growth on a large scale around the active phase area through which it passes. The Rossby wave phenomenon moves from the Pacific Ocean towards the Indian Ocean passing through Indonesian territory (Kompas, 8 October 2021).

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Meanwhile, MJO is an intraseasonal activity that occurs in tropical regions. This natural phenomenon can be recognized by the presence of convection activity (rain clouds) moving eastward from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean (Kompas, 17 January 2024).

KOMPAS/ISMAIL ZAKARIA

A tree fell in the area of Jalan Langko, Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara, on Wednesday (13/3/2024).

Besides the Equatorial Rossby wave and the MJO, it has also been observed the cyclonic circulation in the southwestern Indian Ocean near Lampung that forms a convergence zone of wind in the NTB region.

"That can increase convective activity and the potential for the growth of rain clouds in several regions of Indonesia, including NTB in the coming days," said Satria.

High wave

In addition to rainy conditions accompanied by thunder and strong winds, the BMKG ZAM Meteorology Station also predicts the potential for high waves during this period. There are three categories of high waves, namely medium, high, and very high.

According to him, waves are currently reaching 1.25 meters to 2.5 meters. This condition has the potential to occur in the southern part of Lombok Strait, the northern part of Alas Strait, the northern waters of Sumbawa, and the northern part of Sape Strait.

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While high waves reaching 2.5 meters up to 4 meters are potential in the southern part of Lombok Strait, southern part of Alas Strait, and southern part of Sape Strait. As for the category of very high waves, they could reach up to 4 meters up to 6 meters and potentially occur in the Indian Ocean, southern part of West Nusa Tenggara.

High waves reaching up to 2.5 meters to 4 meters are potentially occurring in the southern part of Lombok Strait, the southern part of Alas Strait, and the southern part of Sape Strait.

So far, there have been no reports of closure of inter-island crossings, for example, from Lombok to Sumbawa and vice versa, as well as from NTB to Bali and NTB to NTT. This also applies to the fast boat travel from Bali to the Tiga Gili area in North Lombok.

However, based on Kompas's monitoring, strong winds have been observed hitting the island of Lombok since Wednesday afternoon. At a number of points in Mataram City, fallen trees were reported, such as in the Jalan Brawijaya and Jalan Langko areas.

High waves are also seen in coastal areas. In fact, the sea water has risen to the road level, as in the Ampenan Beach area. "Since yesterday the waves have been this high. So, for now, no one is doing any activities here, as seen this afternoon. Fishermen are also hesitant to go to sea due to the high waves," said Emi (63), one of the residents.