SUPER TYPHOON PAKA'S (1997) SURFACE WINDS OVER GUAM Principle Investigators : Hurricane Research Division / AOML / NOAA / Miami, FL Department of Meteorology, Penn State University, University Park, PA Department of Civil Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, HI Submitted to the Office of the Federal Coordinator of Meteorological Services as a report under the National Post-Storm Data Acquisition Plan 17 August 1998 INTRODUCTION The NOAA Paka Data Acquisition Team (NPDAT) of Arthur Chiu, Greg Forbes, and Sam Houston was assembled on Guam soon after Super Typhoon Paka's movement through the Marshall Islands in mid-December 1997. This was the first such group charged with gathering storm related data under the National Post-Storm Data Acquisition Plan (OFCM 1997). A full report of the findings and recommendations of this team is provided in NOAA (1998b). A primary concern for the team was to determine if the peak wind gust of 105 m s-1 (205 kt) reported at Andersen Air Force Base (AAFB) was reliable. The team also needed to determine whether or not the damage, which was greatest over the northern two-thirds of the island, was related to unusually extreme winds. The NPDAT spent the period from 22-26 December 1997 gathering all available wind data, while conducting ground and aerial surveys. In addition, an aerial survey was conducted over Rota, the island to the no...
