Meteorological Analysis of the Maritime Casualty of Ferry Muroto caused by Thphoon 9905

Abstract

Meteorological factors of the maritime casualty of Ferry Muroto occurred on July 27, 1999 are investigated through the comprehensive analysis of meteorological observation data and results of the numerical simulation with a mesoscale model. From the analysis, it is found that 1) the wind of Typhoon 9905 was the strongest near the Shikoku Island bescause of the pressure gradient intensified between the typhoon and the North Pacific High, and 2) the maritime casualty occurred just when the spiral rain band was passing over the accident site. The results of this study indicate that a maritime casualty can occur even outside of the radius of 15m/s wind speed of a typhoon and that navigators and operation supervisors have to take account of the locally-intensified wind area around the typhoon and the passage of the spiral rain band, which might cause severe weather conditions.