Special planes to help with typhoon research

• Source: Global Times
• [09:05 September 08 2010]
• Comments

Shanghai Meteorological researchers fly a hydrogen balloon equipped with a GPS in Yangshan Port last week to gather data on the typhoons passing the city. Photo: CFP

By Liu Dong

The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau is planning to launch a pilot project that will use special airplanes to detect the wind speeds of typhoons to assist in gathering research about the natural phenomena, which may help improve the accuracy of future weather forecasts.

The ASTRA meteorological planes that do not require a pilot to operate will be imported from Taiwan, where they are currently used for research purposes, said Zhao Shuo, a spokesperson for the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.

"Right now, we don't know much about the situation of typhoons once they start their travels due to limited technology methods that we have to track them," she told the Global Times Tuesday.

"The planes may help improve our ability to predict the behavior of typhoons in the future," she added.

According to Zhao, the ASTRA model planes, which will cost the city roughly 250,000 yuan ($36,815) each, have been successful in detecting some 35 typhoons from some 45 usages in Taiwan.

Wang Xiaofeng, assistant director of the Shanghai Typhoon Research Center, told local media that if all goes well the planes will be put into use around the city and in the Yangtze River Delta region within the next five years.

The news of the pilot project comes after the city was affected by three typhoons over the last week, one of which was originally forecast to brush past the city, causing officials to cancel the first day back to school. The typhoon never hit and residents consequently complained about the poor ability of weather authorities to predict such phenomena.

Zhang Cao contributed to this story