Ex-Typhoon Merbok Post-Storm Data Response
Sept. 15, Extratropical Typhoon Merbok transited the Bering Sea impacting 40 Alaska Native communities and more than 1,300 miles of coastline. A post-storm data collection effort was immediately coordinated to provide documentation for post-storm response and recovery. This site tells the story of this effort and provides public access to high water mark and imagery data from the event.
Ex-Typhoon Merbok
Thursday, September 15, 2022
The remnants of Typhoon Merbok in the northern Pacific Ocean began approaching the Bering Sea. The storm transitioned into an extra-tropical area of low pressure and strengthened as it traversed the Bering Sea from southwest to northeast.
Friday, September 16, 2022
Impacts were first observed with high winds in the Central and Western Aleutians in the very early morning. The storm continued northeast and peaked in intensity with a minimum central pressure of 937 mb at 4:00 AM, which is the lowest pressure ever recorded in the Bering Sea for the month of September (data since 1950).
Saturday, September 17-20, 2022
The storm slowly weakened but remained very powerful as it moved through the Bering Strait, taking a perfect track to bring significant coastal flooding to the northern Bering Sea coast. The storm continued to move northeast into the Chukchi Sea Saturday afternoon and stalled out, gradually dissipating through Tuesday over the Chukchi Sea (NWS Alaska).
Thoman - ACCAP and Brettschneider - NWS
Typhoon Merbok formed west of Wake Island in an area of the subtrobical Pacific where waters have historically been too cold for tropical cyclone formation. In 2022, however, the area saw the highest ranked temperature since 1900 which increased the low level temperature gradient needed for storm formation.
The storm track was much more direct to Alaska as compared to other typhoon remnants that travel just east of Japan before getting caught in the jet stream. The abnormal high temperature due to climate change resulted in Ex-Typhoon Merbok impacting the Alaska coastline in a manner unlike other storms that have historically impacted the region (Thoman - ACCAP).
Community Flood Impacts
Paul Galvez on Twitter: "Hooper Bay storm, hooper bay school provides relief @NWSFairbanks @NWSAnchorage @NWSAlaska pic.twitter.com/OQVlXClNf6 / Twitter"
Chevak elders, community members, and youth discuss the impacts of Typhoon Merbok, the strongest storm to hit western Alaska in fifty years, on their community. POLARIS team members visited Chevak weeks after the storm to work with youth and elders on surveying the impacts and to share place based curricula and learning.
High Water Marks
High Water Marks from Photographs
Social media posts will continue to be monitored for additional photos that give insight into flooding heights and extents. Surveyors couldn't reach all of the areas impacted by the storm, but photographs like the ones below show high water extents and damages to critical subsistence infrastructure.
Zachariah Hughes on Twitter: "Worth stating in the strongest possible terms:A lot of *town sites* in Western AK fared ok in #merbok. But an as-yet uncounted number of family camps and subsistence cabins -- essential for the economy & culture of the region -- are *ruined.* pic.twitter.com/9hLNgIpw5s / Twitter"
This story map was created by the Alaska Geospatial Office and partners
