The Collection of Typhoon Image Data and the Establishment of Typhoon Information Databases Under International Research Collaboration between Japan and Thailand

This paper describes our ongoing project under international research collaboration between Japan (National Institute of Informatics) and Thailand (Asian Institute of Technology) for the collection of typhoon image data and the establishment of typhoon information databases. Statistics on past typhoon records reveal that approximately one thirds of the typhoons formed in the Northwest Pacific basin have entered into South East Asia and this fact indicates the importance of the research into the analysis and prediction of typhoons in order to prevent or reduce massive damage from typhoons in this vulnerable region. Our challenge to this goal is unique in that our approach is mainly based on the informatics paradigm, namely based on ideas and techniques developed in the informatics community, in contrast to the traditional paradigm based on meteorology. The underlying infrastructure in this new paradigm is the large collection of typhoon images created from Japanese meteorological satellite GMS-5 Himawari. However, when observing South East Asia through this satellite, satellite images tend to show degradation in effective resolution and shape distortion due to earth curvature. Hence we demonstrate that satellite images from another type of satellite called NOAA can compensate the drawbacks of GMS-5, and can provide high quality typhoon imagery over South East Asia. We also point out that NOAA data received in Thailand are relevant data source for this combination, and that effective infrastructure for exchanging huge amount of satellite data is the SINET international link between Thailand and Japan.