Chinese meteorologists successfully captured data about Vongfeng, a strong tropical cyclone, as it struck land in coastal areas of south China's Guangdong province about 8:40 pm on Monday.
Song Lili, a scientist with the provincial weather bureau, said that she and her colleagues had homed in on the typhoon's center and the rare information would greatly help future research in this field.
To capture the valuable data, experts used advanced equipment including a 3D Sonic Anemometer which is able to check up to 60 categories of data each second.
Statistics indicated that the gale-force winds reached a maximum force 12 on the Beaufort scale when the typhoon struck land.
Originating in the South China Sea on Saturday evening, Vongfeng was due to strike the western areas of Guangdong province on Monday night.
Over 300 weather stations and a number of radar stations also tracked the typhoon and recorded statistics, which will be useful for mapping in detail the typhoon's path after it hit land.
China is among countries which suffer from the most serious typhoon disasters. Nine typhoons occurred last year resulting in 231 deaths and 17.65 billion yuan (US$2.13 billion) in economic losses.
(People's Daily August 20, 2002)
