One of the most impressive natural phenomena due to the strength and level of destruction they present are typhoons. However, when it comes to defining it and understanding the process that leads to its formation, it is still normal for doubts to arise about it. If you want to go a little deeper to know better what is a typhoon and how is it formed Keep reading Green Ecologist and we will tell you about it, in addition to explaining the difference with other similar natural phenomena, such as hurricanes.
What is a typhoon
A typhoon is an atmospheric phenomenon which is characterized by its strong and abundant rains, as well as by its very high gusts of winds that can in some cases exceed 200 kilometers per hour in speed. In addition, typhoons have the peculiarity of adopting the circular shape, so that the rains are located around a center where there is no unstable activity but around it, the rains and winds can extend to a radius of thousands of kilometers from the center at the end of the typhoon.
This form of rain and wind generally has disastrous consequences, which is why it is considered one of the natural disasters that exist, since the violence with which this phenomenon is manifested tends to destroy everything in its path, whether it is urban spaces or natural spaces. This implies great economic, ecological and personal costs, since the destruction caused by typhoons wipes out anything that crosses its path.
How a typhoon forms
Keep in mind is that typhoons can only form in warm-water oceans. For this reason, their presence is limited to tropical areas of the planet. The process through which a cyclone forms begins with the rapid evaporation of a large amount of ocean water. This hot water rises to the higher layers of the atmosphere due to the high temperatures and, consequently, a space of low temperatures is created in the ocean. That is, because the clouds that are forming are rising so fast, a space is created in which there is little air right between the ocean and the clouds.
This low air space absorbs the cooler surrounding air, which spirals into this space. In turn, this new air heats up as it enters the new area, causing it to rise and again forcing cooler air to be taken from the extremes of the cloud formation, further favoring the process.
In this way, when the original clouds cool, they begin to discharge the water at the same time that the winds that form to take the air from the extremes increase, which causes the complete formation of the typhoon, which revolves around a center in which stillness and lack of rainfall reign.
Typhoons do not remain static in a specific area, but rather move west and, when they land, they gradually lose their strength because they no longer have the ocean to recover their energy and water supply. However, until this happens, it is normal that they usually spend several full days, which does not prevent its destructive force from being so devastating.
Typhoons, hurricanes and cyclones… how are they different?
One of the problems of talking about typhoons is that, in many cases, there are people who do not know how to differentiate them from other phenomena such as hurricanes and cyclones. In fact, this is not surprising, since the only difference between typhoons, hurricanes and cyclones it is the space in which they take place, since it is the same atmospheric phenomenon.
Thus, when speaking of typhoons, reference is being made to those generated in western pacific and that mainly affect the eastern region of Asia, impacting when they make landfall with countries such as Korea, Japan or China.
In the case of cyclones, it would refer to those that occur in the indian ocean, and they are the phenomena of this type that most frequently affect countries such as India, Sri Lanka or the archipelago of the Maldives.
Finally, in the case of the Hurricanes, it is about those who tend to be trained both in the southern Atlantic ocean as in the area closest to the Caribbean Sea, and that especially affect Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo and the United States.
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