Taiwan may face fewer typhoons – but harsher drought – as planet warms Toggle share menu
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Taiwan may face fewer typhoons – but harsher drought – as planet warms
Sunlight shines through clouds above the Taipei 101 in Taipei on May 16, 2020, as Typhoon Vonghong approaches eastern Taiwan. (File photo: AFP/Sam YEH)
22 Dec 2020 05:30PM (Updated:
22 Dec 2020 05:30PM) Share this content
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TAIPEI: When Typhoon Morakot hit indigenous villages in Taiwan s mountains 11 years ago, former army officer Chen Cheng-nan was stunned at the devastation. The mountain forest landscape changed overnight. In a blink of an eye, the forested river valleys went bare. It was a terrible sight. The dyke broke and Qishan town was completely swept away, he remembered.
FEATURE-Taiwan may face fewer typhoons - but harsher drought - as planet warms
Huang-Hsiung Hsu, a climate researcher at Academia Sinica in Taipei, said that if current rates of greenhouse gas emissions were not reduced the northwestern Pacific Ocean is expected to see the greatest decrease in tropical cyclone activity of all the planet s oceans . The shift could halve the number of typhoons making landfall in Taiwan by the end of the century, compared to the historical average of 3.5 a year, he said.Reuters | Updated: 22-12-2020 05:31 IST | Created: 22-12-2020 05:31 IST
By Sally Jensen TAIPEI, Dec 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Typhoon Morakot hit indigenous villages in Taiwan s mountains 11 years ago, former army officer Chen Cheng-nan was stunned at the devastation.