The Central Weather Bureau announced on Wednesday afternoon that it would launch a “stormchaser project” to monitor the approaching Typhoon Chan-hom, which could pose a threat to Taiwan. The project will be put into action when the typhoon is at a distance about 1,000km away from Taiwan, which forecasters say is likely to be at around 5am on Thursday morning.
The “stormchaser project” involves an Astra jet, which will take off from an airport in the central city of Taichung, and fly toward the typhoon at an altitude of 13,000 meters. It will continue to fly for about six hours within the storm’s perimeter. During that time, it will drop 20 Dropsondes, which are expendable weather reconnaissance devices that can record and transmit data about the typhoon, including temperature, humidity, and the speed and direction of the wind.
The Central Weather Bureau says that back in 2003, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to use Dropsondes to monitor typhoons. To date, the bureau has completed a total of 71 missions using the devices.
The bureau says that using the devices can make up for a lack in typhoon-related data when the storms travel over water. Forecasters say the detailed information will enable the bureau to adjust their forecasts and reduce the margin of error for the typhoon’s path by between 7-15%, or about 10km.