Benefits of Typhoons: A Philippine Perspective

Guillermo Q. Tabios III Institute of Civil Engineering and National Hydraulic Research Center University of the Philippines, Diliman

Workshop on Urban Flood Risk Management in a Changing Climate: Sustainable and Adaptation Challenges @Macao, China on September 6, 2010

Introduction: Broad Benefit of Typhoons

(after Prof. F. Davis, Drexel University) Back in 1973, meteorologists already started believing that tropical storms may more than offset the damage they cause than by the good they do. In particular, in places such as Southeast Asia (Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia) including Japan and India, tropical storms provide up to 25% or more of annual rainfall so that tropical storms is the major source for agriculture and domestic water supplies. Meteorologists are now convinced that tropical storms play a crucial factor in maintaining the planet's heat balance, which is essential to the wellbeing of all life.

... introduction
A broad explanation is that as the water vapor rises from the sea, it cools, condenses and releases enormous amounts of heat into the atmosphere. The heat, in turn, causes more evaporation and condensation, further fueling the brewing storm like the updraft in a chimney. As the winds build and the tropical storm edges away from its birthplace, it releases enormous amounts of heat and as much energy may be released in a single day equivalent to detonating 400, 20-megaton hydrogen bombs.

... introduction
If tropical typhoons were prevented by some means or some man-made technology from releasing their heat, the equatorial seas might warm up until their huge amounts of stored heat would be released in the form of super typhoons. And in the long term, the tropics can become extremely warm and simultaneously, the polar regions could become extremely colder.

On a lighter side, Bill Nye in his appearance with Larry King Live at CNN last week August 30, 2010 summarizes this as follows:
Disaster or not, storms benefit us. The tropical regions of the Earth would be too hot to inhabit, and the subpolar regions too cold, if we didn't have hurricanes and typhoons to mix the Earths atmosphere and distribute the Earth's heat so efficiently.

Some Specific Benefits of Typhoons

1. Domestic & Irrigation Water Supply: Case of Metro Manilas Angat Reservoir 2. Reduction of Air Pollution: Illustrative Case for Cagayan de Oro City (major city in southern Philippines) 3. Carbon Sequestration: Sampling and Research in Taiwan 4. Sediment Flushing for River Maintenance 5. Support Wetland Flood Dynamics

Water Supply Derived from Typhoons

Due to the distinct wet and dry seasons in certain parts of the Philippines, surface water reservoirs are needed if is the only raw water source. However, due to budget constraints, reservoirs are built with only within-a-year carry-over storage. More often in this case, they can only be filled-up for next years water supply by tropical typhoons. Illustrated below is the case of Metro Manilas Angat Reservoir for domestic water supply which has often reached critical shortage levels of 180 m or below and only recover due to occurrence of tropical typhoon.

Angat Reservoir Monthly Elevations and Number of Typhoons within 100 kms Radius
(Angat Reservoir is the major and only raw surface water source of Metro Manila)
Typhoons w/in 200 kms Reservoir Elevation (m)
4 3 2 1 0 220

200

180

160 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Reduction of Air Pollution by Typhoons

It is recognized that after a typhoon passes by a city, the air pollutants are removed either through precipitation of pollutant particles (i.e., acid rain) or through dispersion or removal by winds associated to the typhoon.

Given below presents the case for Cagayan de Oro City (a major city in southern Philippines) through a graphical illustration if how the occurrence of a typhoon could reduce pollutant concentration.

Particulate Matter (PM10) Concentration in Cagayan de Oro City, Northern Mindanao (Southern Philippines) in Year 2003 (Arrows indicate dates of typhoons within 150 kms radius)

5/19 6/21 7/15&30

11/1212/13

Particulate Matter (PM10 - 10 microns in diameter or smaller, in mg/Nm3) are small solid or liquid particles suspended in air from diesel vehicles and coal-burning power plants. Dust is also a major source especially during the dry months and it can come from unpaved roads and construction activities. The Philippine National Ambient Air Quality (NAAQ) guideline values for PM10 should not be more than 150 mg/Nm3 average over a 24-hour period and not over 60 mg/Nm3 average over one-year period.

Daily Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Concentration in Cagayan de Oro City, Northern Mindanao (Southern Philippines) in Year 2003
(Arrows indicate dates of typhoons within 150 kms radius)

5/19 6/21 7/15&30

11/1212/13

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2 in mg/Nm3) come from power plants and motor vehicles that burn fuels. The Philippine National Ambient Air Quality (NAAQ) guideline values for SO2 should not be more than 150 mg/Nm3 average over a 24-hour period and not over 60 mg/Nm3 average over one-year period.

Carbon Sequestration
Study of Choshui River during Typhoon Mindulle by A. Carey & S. Goldsmith of Ohio State University and S.-J. Kao, T.-Y. Lee, & J. Chen of Academia Sinica, Taiwan. In Choshui River during Typhoon Mindulle of July 2009, the study team quantified that out of 61 million tons of sediment carried out to sea, about 500,000 tons consisted of carbon particles produced by chemical weathering. The team concluded that this is about 95 percent as much carbon that the river transports during normal rains over an entire year.

.. carbon sequestration
With two to four typhoons events per year in Taiwan, it is plausible that the amount of carbon sequestered during these storms could be comparable to the longterm annual carbon flux for the country.
The team pointed out that mountainous islands such as Taiwan, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea [including the Philippines] could produce one third of all the sediments that enter the world oceans annually. This has important implications to global carbon balance and thus global climate change.

Sediment Flushing for River Maintenance

A stable river means river in dynamic equilibrium, not static, which undergo periodic river changes due to flow regimes and sediment movement. In order to maintain dynamic equilibrium, it takes seasonal occurrence of high flow regimes which can only be brought by large rainfalls from tropical typhoons.

The high flow regimes are generally responsible for removing or mobilizing sediments by erosion while the low flows promote deposition of sediments. During high flows, rivers can flush fine sediments, toxic materials and open clogged pores in the streambed gravel matrix to promote better aeration and circulation for fish spawning and other biological activities.

Wetland Flood Dynamics

For large vast wetlands, it takes significant amounts of flood flows to maintain desirable flood inundation frequencies in time and space as well as floodplainriver interaction dynamics conducive to or to support wetland flora and fauna. In the Philippines, two major wetlands are the Candaba Swamp in Luzon and Agusan Marsh in Mindanao where significant withdrawals upstreams for irrigation and drinking water had taken place. Thus, these wetlands now depend on flood flows from tropical typhoons, so that any changes or modifications in the typhoon regimes (e.g., change in frequency during El Nino years) could adversely affect the growth and development cycles of flora and fauna, and consequently biodiversity in these areas.

Conclusions
With proper and better understanding of the nature and dynamics of tropical typhoons, it would be worthwhile recognizing and taking advantage of their beneficial uses in contrast to their adverse impacts. To reiterate, the broad benefit one can derive from typhoons is that tropical regions of the Earth would be too hot to inhabit, and the sub-polar regions too cold, if we didn't have hurricanes and typhoons (Bill Nye).

Specific benefits of typhoons has also been discussed earlier, but further studies should be made to establish and provide concrete guidelines as to how, when and what it takes to take advantage of typhoons benefits.