An Initiative to Re-Establish Typhoon Reconnaissance in the Western North Pacific RegionWen-Chau LeeNational Center for Atmospheric Research |
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The Western North Pacific Region (WNPR) has not had operational typhoon reconnaissance since the US military terminated these operations in Guam in the late 1980s. Although weather satellites are vital for tropical cyclone (TC) observations on a global scale, it was found that satellite measurements of position, intensity, outer wind distribution, and ambient steering current of TCs were sometimes degraded from what can be provided by aircraft over a limited but operationally significant area. The gaps in TC non-satellite observing capabilities (e.g., Airborne Doppler radars and lidars, and Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer) and the data assimilation capabilities between the Atlantic basin and the WNPR have grown larger in the past 35 years.
During the 2023 AOGS meeting in Singapore, scientists from Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan and the U.S. (NSF NCAR and NOAA) engaged in several discussions to explore the possibility of coordinated aerial typhoon observations by leveraging existing resources from Taiwan (DOTSTAR), Japan (T-PARCII), S. Korea and the US. Several follow-up meetings were held in Taiwan and S. Korea in 2024 to discuss avenues to develop a sustainable typhoon reconnaissance capability in the WNPR with the possibility of engaging military aircraft from the US and its partners in the region. As a logical first step, the idea of organizing a coordinated pilot typhoon study in 2025 using existing observing capability from each country was proposed to encourage and foster long-term collaborations to re-establish typhoon reconnaissance capabilities in the WNPR. This pilot study would be designed to demonstrate the value of regionally-coordinated typhoon reconnaissance missions. This paper intends to provide an overview of the initiative to gRe-Establish Typhoon Reconnaissance in the WNPRh, summarize the 2025 pilot study with participants from Taiwan, Japan, S. Korea and the US, and outline plans for 2026. " |