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Written by Website Administrator
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Tuesday, 10 January 2006 |
One of the wonders of the Internet is the speed with which information can be made available to vast numbers of people. Specialised information can also be made available to much smaller numbers of people who are widely separated, of course. A topical subject to underline this point is the use of the Internet for checking up on cyclones in the Vanuatu area.
Run a Google search for “cyclones southwest pacific” and you will be given a long list of many matches, over half a million. Most are not too relevant, but there are some particularly useful websites you may wish to view and bookmark (ie. get your computer to remember the website address).
For example, go to www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/tropical.html for an overview of cyclones and hurricanes around the world, with a picture that you can click on for a more detailed map of any area. This is usually updated every few hours. Similarly, go to www.australiasevereweather.com/cyclones to see not only the recent path of a cyclone, but also its forecast path and strength. Need to see a satellite photo of the area? Go to en.allmetsat.com/images/cyclones-pacific-southwest.php, you get the same maps as above but also the option to see other meteorological and satellite information.
If you would like to know the sequence of names that will be given to cyclones, drop in to www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml. And for regularly updated general forecasts for cyclone activity in our area, visit www.niwascience.co.nz/ncc/icu/ where you will find predictions of the rainfall and cyclone activity we can expect over the next few months. Apparently, this season is expected to be close to average in spite of the very warm waters to our north and in spite of 2005 globally averaging a record high temperature (warm seas being a large contributor to the formation of cyclones). Accordingly, we can look forward to 2.8 cyclones within 550km of Port Vila this year, and 9 throughout the southwest pacific (2 of which will be serious).
Relatively local and specific information, probably more up-to-date than most others, can be found in the Fiji Meteorological Service website at www.met.gov.fj. They issue advisories, warnings, and tracking maps.
Finally, a good website to bookmark is the Humanitarian Early Warning Service site at www.hewsweb.org/storms/ - not only tracking maps for cyclones, they also have a Seismic section for information on earthquakes. The trouble with earthquakes is that they cannot yet be predicted, so such data is always going to be about what has already happened. At least with cyclones and the predictions provided by some of the websites above, you can obtain some of the best information available to help you decide what to do about an approaching cyclone.
All of these links can also be found at the merlinpacific.net website, in the Weblinks section. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 10 January 2006 )
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