Attachments
Introduction
The RSMC Tokyo - Typhoon Center (hereinafter referred to as "the Center") is the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) with activity specialization in analysis, tracking and forecasting of western North Pacific tropical cyclones within the framework of the World Weather Watch (WWW) Programme of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The Center was established at the Headquarters of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) in July 1989, following the designation by the WMO Executive Council at its 40th session held in Geneva in June 1988.
The Center conducts following operations on a routine basis:
(1) Preparation of information on the formation, movement and development of tropical cyclones and associated meteorological phenomena;
(2) Preparation of information on synoptic scale atmospheric situations that affect the behavior of tropical cyclones; and
(3) Dissemination of the above information to national Meteorological Centers (NMCs), in particular to the Members of the ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee, in appropriate formats for operational processing.
In addition to the routine services mentioned above, the Center distributes a series of reports entitled “Annual Report on Activities of the RSMC Tokyo - Typhoon Center” to serve as operational references for the NMCs concerned. This report aims at summarizing the activities of the Center and reviewing tropical cyclones of the year.
In this 2000 issue, the outline of routine operations at the Center and its operational products are presented in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 reports the major activities of the Center in 2000. Chapter 3 describes atmospheric and oceanic conditions in the tropics and gives the highlights of the tropical cyclone activities in 2000. In Chapter 4, verification statistics of operational forecasts and predictions of the two numerical models of the Center are presented.
The best track data for the tropical cyclones in 2000 are shown in table and chart forms in Appendices. All the texts, tables, charts and appendixes are included in a CD-ROM attached to this report.
The CD-ROM contains 3-hourly cloud images of all the tropical cyclones in 2000 with TS intensity or higher in the area of responsibility of the Center, and software to view them. The software has various functions for analyzing satellite imagery such as animation of images, which facilitates efficient post-analysis of tropical cyclones and their environments. A setup program and a users manual for the software are also included in the CD-ROM. Appendix 7 shows an outline of the CD-ROM and how to use the software.