TROPICAL DEPRESSION IARIMA, 11-18 March

     At about the third week in March, while cyclone Honorinina
developed between St. Brandon and Tromelin while moving east/west,
a depression was forming near parallel 15 degrees south-southeast
of Diego-Garcia.

     On the 13th, at 0600 UT, a tropical depression (T2,5) was
found near 15.2 degrees South and 76.0 degrees East.

     On the 14th at 0600 UT, the depression was centered near
16.5 degrees South and 79.0 degrees East, it had moved east-
southeast at a speed of about 7 to 8 knots.  During the night, the
depression intensified to stage T3; and the ninth system of the
season was named Iarima.

     During the day of the 14th, Iarima was carried in the
meridional current from the east.  Its trajectory curved southwest,
and the depression was centered on the following day at 0600 UT,
near 18.5 degrees South and 76.7 degrees East.  The movement west
was stopped, however, by the formation of an anticyclone ridge
between Honorinina and Iarima.  The depression then moved southeast
and continued in this direction until it dissipated.

     Iarima progressively weakened.  Its remnants disappeared
during the night of the 18th-19th at parallel 28 degrees and
meridian 90 degrees East.

     On the 14th, Iarima reached its maximum intensity of T3.
Iarima developed over sea, far from inhabited land.  It seems as if
this depression would not have been detected without the help of
satellite images; there were no ships crossing in its path.

     Iarima was classified as a moderate tropical depression.  It
had the following characteristics at its center:
     Minimum pressure:  992 hPa (744 mm)
     Maximum wind:  35 knots (65 km/h)
     Wind gusts:  52 knots (96 km/h).