Lecture Notes: Cyclones, Locusts, and Climate Change Impact

Cyclone Events in Arabian Peninsula

• May 2018: A large cyclone passed over the Rub’ al Khali desert, also known as The Empty Quarter.
  • Resulted in lakes forming between dunes for the first time in 20 years.
  • Five months later, another cyclone hit, followed by several more over the year.
• Impact:
  • Unprecedented frequency of cyclones in decades.
  • Catastrophic flooding in normally dry areas, especially in East Africa.

Aftermath: Locust Plague

• Desert Locusts: Grasshoppers in the region from Northwest Africa to Western Asia.
  • Typically solitary but transform when the environment changes.
• Transformation Trigger:
  • Occurs when dry areas become lush with vegetation after heavy rains.
  • Leads to congregation, triggering a hormone that changes locusts both physically and mentally into the gregarious phase.
    • Color changes from brown to bright yellow.
    • Body shrinks; endurance increases, optimizing for flight.
    • Brain and appetite grow.
• Gregarious Phase:
  • Locusts eat, breed, and lay eggs in damp soil.
  • Hatchlings form hopper bands, swarms of non-flying insects.
  • Eventually develop wings and form large flying swarms.
• Swarms Details:
  • Can travel up to 150 km/day.
  • A single swarm may contain up to 150 million insects per square kilometer.
  • A swarm can consume more food in a day than 35,000 people.

East Africa's Locust Outbreak

• Late 2019-2020: Worst locust outbreak in decades.
  • Swarms as large as 2,400 square kilometers (over three times the size of NYC).
  • Swarms consuming food equivalent to tens of millions of people.
  • Significant impact on agriculture, leading to threats of famine.
• Spread:
  • February: Pakistan declared a state of emergency.
  • May: Swarms reached northern India, first time since 1962.

Role of Weather and Climate Change

• Weather Impact:
  • Locusts reproduce exponentially when weather conditions are favorable.
  • Population grows twenty-fold with each new generation.
  • Unusual rain and vegetation increase locust swarms.
• Climate Change:
  • Extreme weather events becoming more common.
  • Potential increase in cyclones in desert regions, leading to more locust breeding grounds.

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