The formation of typhoons in the western North Pacific and typhoon visits to Japan are investigated from a climatological standpoint. The relationship between the frequency of typhoon formation or typhoon visits and the sea surface temperature in the North Pacific is also studied.
First, the formation of typhoons for the 30-year period from 1953 to 1982 is examined. The average number of typhoons formed is 27 a year. For the annual variation of monthly frequency of typhoon formation, the maximum frequency occurs in August and the minimum in February. Typhoons are formed most frequently in the ocean east of the Philippine Islands. The latitude of typhoon formation moves northward in summer and then retreats equatorward.
Secular variation in the frequency of typhoon formation is studied by trend analysis and power spectrum analysis. The frequency showed a peak in the middle of the 1960's. The frequency of typhoon formation increased until the middle of the 1960's and then decreased. There exist two periodicities of 3 to 4 years and 6 to 7 years in the secular variation of typhoon formation.
In the frequent/infrequent months of typhoon formation the following characteristics are found. The frequency shows a marked increase north of 15°N in the case of frequent typhoon formation. The polar vortex is weak/strong. The zonal index is high/low, because the Aleutian low is active/inactive and the subtropical anticyclone and the intertropical convergence zone exist north/south of their normal positions. The negative/positive anomalies of sea surface temperature are extensive in the subtropical ocean south of Japan.
Next, typhoon visit to Japan is investigated for the period of 70 years from 1913 to 1982. When a typhoon approaches Japan and comes within a distance of approximately 300 km from the coast, it is designated as a typhoon that visits Japan. The average annual number of typhoon visits is 9. The maximum monthly frequency occurs in August and there are no typhoons from January to March in Japan.
The area of the most frequent visits is the sea south of the Okinawa Islands. Typhoon visits are the least frequent in the sea northeast of the Hokkaido District. The frequency of typhoon visits is high in the open sea and straits and is relatively low near the islands and mountains. The typhoon season opens first near the Nansei Islands, and then the frequency increases also in northern areas. In the later typhoon season, typhoon visits occur frequently in the sea southeast of the Pacific coast.
Secular variation of typhoon visit is examined by trend analysis and power spectrum analysis. The frequency is lower from the latter half of the 1920's to the 1930's. There exist high frequencies of visit from the latter half of the 1940's to the early 1950's and around 1960. The results also show the existence of variations of approximately 2 to 2.5 years and 5 to 6 years periodicities, in addition to a periodicity of 40 years.
In years of frequent/infrequent typhoon formation, typhoons frequently/infrequently visit the coast from the Tokai District to the Kanto District.
The annual variations of regional typhoon visit to Japan are studied by principal component analysis. The first four eigenvectors account for 97.5% of the total variance and the profile of the annual variation in frequency of regional typhoon visits is adequately described by the four eigenvectors.
A regional division of Japan is proposed by using the amplitude coefficients corresponding to these four eigenvectors. Ten regions are obtained. Broadly speaking, these regions can be divided into four groups.
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