Occurrence Characteristics of Marine Accidents Caused by Typhoons around Korean Peninsula

During the period of every summer to early autumn seasons, ships have been wrecked or grounded from effect of a typhoon in the water areas around Korean Peninsula Typhoon Rusa killed more than 100 people in September 2002. Super Typhoon Maemi passed southeast of South Korea in September 12-13, 2003, with a strong gale blowing at a record 60 m/s and caused much ship groundings, collisions and sinkings over 3000 in dockyards, harbors and places of refuge. These are things that could have been prevented had there merely been prior warning. This study outlines the occurrence characteristics of maritime accidents caused by a typhoon in South Korea for the period from 1962 to 2002. The distribution of the accident records is also compared with the trajectories, winds, central pressures of typhoons, passed during the 1990-2003. It is shown that attack frequency of typhoon and number of marine accidents is the highest in August and the marine accidents due to typhoon have a close relation to the distribution of accumulated wind and pressure fields.