China has successfully launched its first typhoon detecting rocket just as typhoon Mujigae hit its southern Guangdong province. The rocket, launched from Hainan, has dropped several radiosondes into the centre of Typhoon Mujigae six minutes after the launch. This experiment is a breakthrough in China’s rocket science, with rocket launching, radiosonde dropping and remote data retrieval achieved at the same time.

The launch is collaboration between Shanghai Typhoon Institute of China Meteorological Administration and China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp. It took three years and the support from Hainan Meteorological Service to complete this launch.

Scientists said there’s great potential in applying rocket science into typhoon detection and forecast. At least seven persons were killed and 223 others were injured when typhoon, bringing gales and downpour, made the land fall in the coastal city of Zhanjiang this week packing winds of up to 50 meters per second.

Tropical Cyclone

• The word cyclone has been derived from Greek word ‘cyclos’ which means ‘coiling of a snake’
• Tropical Cyclones are low pressure systems that form over warm tropical waters and have gale force winds near the centre.
• Tropical cyclones are called “Hurricanes” over the Atlantic Ocean and “Typhoons” over the Pacific Ocean.
• The tropical cyclones form over ocean basins in lower latitudes of all oceans except south Atlantic and southeast Pacific.
• The size of a tropical cyclone over Indian seas varies from 50-100 km radius to 2000 km with an average of 300 –600 km.

Test Your GK

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