Typhoon Maysak reaches the Korean Peninsula

Typhoon Maysak reaches the Korean Peninsula. Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory shows Typhoon Maysak just before it made landfall on the Korean Peninsula on September 2, 2020.

After one of the most extreme monsoon seasons in recorded history, Korea has been hit by two powerful storms in a single week, and a third typhoon may be on the way.

Typhoon Maysak made landfall in South Korea just days after Typhoon Bavi. Tropical Storm Haishen is now gaining momentum south of Japan, and could potentially become a category 4 storm.

Maysak was the strongest typhoon in the 2020 Western Pacific season. At its peak, Maysak had maximum sustained winds of 145 miles per hour. Typhoon Maysak reaches the Korean Peninsula

According to NASA, the Korean Peninsula typically only sees one typhoon per year.

Korea (or Korean peninsula) is a region in East Asia. Since 1945 it has been divided into two sovereign states: North Korea (officially the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”) and South Korea (officially the “Republic of Korea”). Korea consists of the mainland Korean Peninsula (“Mainland Korea”), Jeju Island, and several minor islands near the peninsula. It is bordered by China to the northwest and Russia to the northeast. It is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

During the first half of the 1st millennium, Korea was divided between the three competing states of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, together known as the Three Kingdoms of Korea. In the second half of the 1st millennium, Silla defeated and conquered Baekje and Goguryeo, leading to the “Unified Silla” period. Meanwhile, Balhae formed in the north, superseding former Goguryeo. Unified Silla eventually collapsed into three separate states due to civil war, ushering in the Later Three Kingdoms.

The photograph was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer