Discussion on the enhancement of Typhoon Committee activities for UN EW4All initiative

The ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee is an intergovernmental regional organization dealing with typhoon(tropical cyclones)related disasters.Millions of people around the Asia-Pacific region remain exposed to a higher frequency and intensity of natural hazards.For more developed countries,tropical cyclone related impacts cause major social and economic disruptions through loss of lives and property.With recognizing the importance of aligning its efforts with UN Early Warnings for All(EW4All)initiative which aims to strengthen early warning systems globally,Typhoon Committee resolved to initiate the monitoring of ongoing or past efforts by TC Members in contributing to the four key pillars of the EW4all initiative aiming to(1)evaluate the Committee's contributions to EW4All;and(2)identify the opportunities for enhancing performance through Member Reports and the WGs’AOP specification.TC had its 18th IWS/4th TRCG forum with a theme of“Early Warnings for All Through Enhancement of Typhoon Standard Operating Procedures(SOP)”and“Towards a Typhoon Resilient Society”;TC Secretary(TCS)initiated a reviewing and monitoring on the ongoing or previous efforts of TC Members,through analyzing the AOPs’implementation of TC WGs,in contributing to the pillars of the EW4All initiative with the objective of enabling an evaluation of the Committee's contributions to EW4All and identify opportunities for further enhancing its performance.This paper intends to discuss the directions on how to further enhance TC activities aligning with and contribution to EW4All in future.

A CHALLENGE OF THE EXPERIMENT ON TYPHOON INTENSITY CHANGE IN COASTAL AREA

The Experiment on Typhoon Intensity Change in Coastal Area(EXOTICCA) was proposed by the China Meteorological Administration(CMA) and Hong Kong Observatory(HKO) and endorsed by the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee(TC). The major goals and objectives of the EXOTICCA are: 1) to conduct the field campaigns on the intensity and structural characteristics of the target offshore and landfall tropical cyclones by employing integrated and novel observation techniques, and 2) to conduct demonstration research on the utilization of the synergized field observation data with the aim of deepening the understanding of the mechanism of structure and intensity changes, to improve the relevant capability of operational analysis, numerical weather prediction(NWP) models forecast, reliable storm surge and flooding and associated risk assessment. The Organizational structure and implementation schedule etc. are also introduced in this paper.

OVERVIEW ON THE PROGRESS OF WORKING GROUP ON METEOROLOGY OF ESCAP/WMO TYPHOON COMMITTEE IN THE RECENT 10 YEARS

This paper reviews the major achievements of the Working Group on Meteorology(WGM) of ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee since its establishment in 2004, especially in tropical cyclone observational research and scientific experiments, tropical cyclone monitoring and forecasting technologies, seasonal prediction and climate change assessment for the past decade. The progress illustrates the great value of the Committee and WGM in monitoring and forecasting of tropical cyclones in the region and the improvement of disaster prevention and reduction capabilities.

Impact-based forecasting for improving the capacity of typhoon-related disaster risk reduction in typhoon committee region

The two most common types of disasters caused by natural hazards in the Asia-Pacific region are floods and storms,many of them associated with typhoon(tropical cyclone)related impacts.To improve the capacity of typhoon-related disaster risk reduction so as to maximum reduce the losses of people’s life and properties,the decision makers and the public are imminently demanding the information of the targeted impact caused by typhoon.As the front line in hydro-meteorological disaster prevention and mitigation against the typhoon-related disasters,National Meteorological and Hydrological Services(NMHSs)in TC Members have recognized that forecasting impact became more important than forecasting pure causing-disaster elements.Impact-based forecasting signals an evolution from“what the weather will be”to“what the weather will do”.Many things change as impact based forecasts evolve from previous weather forecasts.To enhance impact-based typhoon forecasting,the Typhoon Committee added it into the new updated Strategic Plan 2022–2026.This paper briefed generally the concept of impact based forecasting,introduced the implementation and progresses on typhoon impact based forecasting in TC Members in recent years,and initially discussed the measures and direction for enhancement of impact-based typhoon forecasting and early warning services in future.