Typhoon Mawar and Tropical Storm Guchol, south of Japan

  • Credit

    Jeff Schmaltz

Typhoon Mawar (left) is projected to reach Japan on August 25, 2005, bringing with it wind speeds of up to 120 knots or 138 miles per hour (1 knot = 1.15 mph). It is a Category 4 typhoon, capable of causing massive damage to buildings as well as creating extensive flooding. Tropical Storm Guchol (right), with maximum sustained winds of 55 knots (63 mph), is forecast to become a typhoon as well. A typhoon is a type of tropical cyclone, or a storm with maximum sustained winds of greater than 63 knots (73 mph). A tropical cyclone that is located in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, west of the International dateline, is called a typhoon; a similar storm in the North Atlantic is called a hurricane. Typhoons are large, rotating regions of wind, clouds, and thunderstorms formed over warm tropical oceans. While the high winds, heavy rains, tornadoes, and storm surges caused by typhoons are often highly destructive in terms of human lives and property, they form an important part of the biosphere by transferring heat energy from the tropics to the mid-latitudes and polar regions.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • MODIS Bands

    1, 4, 3

  • Display Date

    January 5, 2005