According to news reports, at least 80 landslides resulted from the flooding, and wind and mud combined to take three lives. T yphoon Tom was born in the tropical Pacific at the same time as Violet. Although over the last decade reasonably accurate numerical weather prediction models have been developed to forecast typhoon movement, the models' predictive abilities are only as good as the input data. Key are data about wind currents and pressure systems, which determine storm force and direction. Satellite imagery may help to locate storms, but do not reveal surface intensity, he said.
Models are similarly inadequate.
Yet mid-latitude storms resulting from typhoons usually have gale force winds and heavy precipitation. Storm transition is a fascinating science problem, with important economic consequences. Transitions occur over the busiest trans-ocean shipping lanes, and, if resulting storms ever hit land, they usually devastate populated areas. The instrument is expected to provide more than 100 times the amount of ocean wind information currently available from ship reports. A radar instrument, the scatterometer is capable of taking data day or night, regardless of sunlight or weather conditions.