2006.07.12 (수) "Typhoon" 01' 임민석

[현중]

Typhoon

1. What is the Typhoon?
Typhoon is made in north-west of the Pacific. It is made by a tropical cyclone in the 10th parallel. When the tropical cyclone moves counterclockwise, it makes a whirlpool. And than, this whirlpool makes a rising current of air. At this time, The air of outside flow into the central area of the tropical cyclone very quickly. When the velocity of the wind is over 17m/s, it becomes a typhoon. Also, the typhoon is called as different names by many countries. When the typhoon is made in north of the Atlantic ocean or the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the east of the Pacific. it is called as a hurricane. And, when the typhoon is made in the Indian Ocean or south of the Pacific, it is called as a cyclone. Some Australians call the typhoon willy-willy.

2. The structure of a typhoon.
As you know, the typhoon has a eye. It is a big hole. In the eye of a typhoon, there is no storm, and there are little clouds. Therefore, we can not see a clear sky in there. Around 40 to 100km far from the eye of a typhoon, that area has the most strong wind.

3. The number and name of a typhoon.
All of Typhoons have their own numbers and names. The typhoon number is named by order of their birth. The number and name of a typhoon are made by Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Guam. The typhoon number means the order of birth of typhoon. For example, the typhoon, Ewiniar is the third typhoon. It means it is the third typhoon which occurred in 2006.  

Originally, the people who gave a name to a typhoon are Australian meteorologists. At that time, they named typhoons after politicians who was hated. For example, if the politician's name is "Anderson", they said "Anderson could be a big disaster to us" when they forecasted the weather. And than, after World War II, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy formally had named typhoons. They named typhoons after their wives or sweethearts. After that , all typhoons had female names till 1978.

These days, typhoons are named by various languages. The names of typhoons are made by Typhoon Committee of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the World Meteorological Organization (아시아 태풍 위원회) from 2000. 14 Asian countries associate with that organization. Each country submitted 10 names to Typhoon Committee. And than, Typhoon Committee divided them into 5 groups. They named typhoon by choosing in order among 140 names. If they used all names, They recycle that.
The typhoon, Ewiniar is submitted from Micronesia. Ewiniar means god of storm.
Korea also submitted 10 typhoon names. "개미, 나리, 장미, 수달, 노루, 제비, 너구리, 고니, 메기, 나비“ They are almost names of animals or insects. Also, North Korea submitted 10 names, so there are many Korean typhoon names.

4. Great disaster by a typhoon.
Typhoons always damage to the human race. Korea is damaged by typhoons every summer. Moreover, the typhoon causes extensive damage. The typhoon which caused the greatest damage in Korean history was Rusa. The typhoon, Rusa had passed  Korea in 2002. The amount of damage was about 5 thousand billion won and 147 persons died, 94 persons disappeared by Rusa.
  Besides Rusa, There were many terrible typhoons. In 1959, 849 persons died and disappeared by the typhoon, Sarah. It was the most powerful typhoon in an official record. Lately, the big typhoon was Maemi in 2003. At that time, 117 persons died and the amount of damage was over 4 thousand billion won.

Until now, I have told about typhoons. The typhoon is certainly very fearful disaster, but I think we don't need to be afraid it. If we prepare enough, we can reduce the damage to a minimum.