NASA captured infrared imagery of Dianmu entering the Sea of Japan today, August 11. Tropical Storm Dianmu made a quick track over South Korea and has already emerged in the Sea of Japan. She’s on track for crossing northern Japan and then moving into the North Western Pacific Ocean.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument onboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Dianmu on August 11 at 4:29 UTC (12:29 a.m. EDT). That showed her center exiting South Korea and entering the Sea of Japan. The strongest areas of convection (rapidly rising air that form the thunderstorms that power the tropical storm) appeared around Dianmu’s center. The next AIRS image on 16:29 UTC (12:29 p.m. EDT) showed Dianmu as an elongated system with most of the convection to the eastern part of the storm.
At 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) on August 11, Dianmu had maximum sustained winds near 46 mph (40 knots). It was 500 nautical miles west-southwest of Misawa, Japan, and moving east-northeast near 20 mph. it is generating 15-foot high waves in the Sea of Japan today.
Dianmu is transitioning into an extra-tropical storm as it encounters increasing vertical wind shear and cooler sea surface temperatures. Those are two factors that weaken a tropical cyclone. Dianmu is expected to make landfall over north Honshu, Japan on August 12.
Dear BJS:I’m writing this comment to ask for correction in this post.The sea, which is written only as Sea of Japan, was called East Sea or several variations thereof throughout most of its history. However, when Japan had colonized Korea for 35 years (1910 -1945), Japan changed its name to Sea of Japan without any bilateral discussion with Korea. In that period, South Korea had its sovereignty taken by Japan, which led to no way to speak out against it. Since South Korea got its sovereignty back, it has continuously taken countermeasures fighting for the name, East Sea. Since 1990, IHO(International Hydrographic Organization) and UNCSGN(United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names) have adopted a resolution that when adjacent countries do not reach an agreement on a term for a shared water, both names for the sea should be used at the same time. According to the resolution, world’s prestigious publishers and media, such as The Wall Street Journal, Rand McNally, Encyclopedia Britannica, the Los Angles Times, use the term, East Sea/Sea of Japan for the water. Until South Korea and Japan come to an agreement on the term for the sea, we ask you to take a neutral stance in terms of its term by mentioning both East Sea and Sea of Japan for upcoming posts.Thank you for your time and consideration. I’m looking forward to hearing from you on the matter.Sincerely,Yujin Lee Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Korean Culture and Information Service