Here are some answers to questions students asked about my research.
1. I met my co-author through another Japanese colleague when I was visiting him at the Center for Spatial Information Science at Tokyo University. I had read Dr. Zaiki's articles before and knew she might have some interest in historical typhoons. We communicate by email. I visit Japan every summer and she usually comes to St. Louis each year as well.
2. I can speak and read some Japanese and Dr. Zaiki can speak and write English very well.
3. We have been working on this project for about five years. It takes a long time to collect data, do the analysis, and do presentations and write papers. We can often publish parts of the research as we go along. One of our papers was published in the international journal Weather in 2009 (Reconstructing typhoons in Japan in the 1880s from documentary records).
4. I became interested in typhoons because my PhD dissertation research was about flooding in Japan and typhoons are the major cause of flooding.
5. One of the most interesting parts of my research is reading English-language newspapers published in Japan from the 1850s to 1890s. It is very interesting to read about events in Japan and the world during this time. Things were changing very fast in Japan as it opened to the west during these years. Also, it is amazing how similar newspaper stories are to those we read today.
6. Doing research is part of the job of a professor so we need to make time for it. Summers are a good time for me since I don't teach in July and early August. Anyway, I like doing research so I can find time and the money to do it.
Another project, we have been working on involves "Typhoon tracks around Japan from 1951 to 2011." We are using Geographical Information Systems software to map and classify typhoon tracks around Japan so we can use this information to better understand typhoons we have been researching in the 19th century.
Here is a link to a really interesting site about typhoons - Digital Typhoon
Here are some images we made with ESRI's software ArcGIS.
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| Pacific Coast Typhoons around Japan 1951-2009 |
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| General Pacific Coast type typhoon tracks |
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| General typhoon tracks around Japan 1951-2009 |
13 comments:
It is so amazing how interconnected our society is. You can work with someone in Japan with moderate ease now, whereas not long ago that would be an incredibly difficult task. Technology has allowed us to take great strides in understanding typhoons and almost any other field of research. However, Dr. Grossman is also using newspapers for his research. We cannot take for granted the technology we can use nor can we disregard important data from our past. What an interesting topic to research.
Carley Pfleger
Well that covered up some of my questions from the last blog post, and its very cool how a professor has to do research throughout their time of being a professor, probably something everyone over thinks and most likely ignores. This is sorta of random but I was having a discussion with my friends about natural disasters and we were naming off Hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis and I was thinking to myself what is the real difference between all of them, Now I do know somewhat the difference just reminded me of back in the day when I took earth science in jr. high and was wondering the exact same thing.
Nathan Pierce
I think it's interesting how you two became colleagues. I would love to go to Japan and I love how you get the opportunity to go at least once a year. I also am impressed both of you can speak/write English and Japanese. I have heard it is hard to learn Japanese. I hope after I finish school, I get the same opportunity as you to have time off to travel and enjoy the things I like to do. It sounds like you are enjoying the perks of your job. Enjoy!
Britini Irwin
With us having the capabilities to track typhoons of the past so we can get an understanding of their trends. This way people can prepare for the unexpected so we can save lives.
Jonathon Quintal
Thank you for answering our questions. Seems as if everyone was wondering the same things. The most fascinating thing that caught my eye, was the newpapers you do research through. Very cool. I was looking at the link for the Digital Typhoon, very interseting!!! Its neat how you are able to keep track of them,through different locations, and time.
Melissa McKenney
ESC 111
I agree with the previous post -- being able to track past disasters to understand the trends today is so incredibly helpful for preventing a lot of the destruction that normally comes with them. Even though I'm an English major, and Earth Science has little to nothing to do with my field, I find that natural disasters and their effects are something that I'm interested in. I'm sure that it is very interesting doing research on this.
Megan Turner
I think it's safe to say that you've done the most research of all of my previous an current professors that I'm aware of. It's always nice to know that we're learning from someone who actually knows what they're talking about. Unless there are two Michael Grossmans in your field, I think you were cited in my boyfriend's geography book.
Jennifer White
I think its really interesting that 2 people can communicate and work together even why they are so far apart. I think technology has definately helped this happen. It seems like it should be easier now to share information across the world and work together then it was before. I think professors working together will definately bring new thoughts and ideas into the scientific community.
~Tarah Kohler
It is very cool that you know how to speak some Japanese. I know Asian languages are a little harder than others to learn because of the characters instead of alphabetical letters. Knowing the language definitely makes it easier to correspond with your colleague to get the research done more efficiently.
-Hannah Peters
I love that you work with a foreign scientist. I bet it gives your research a different look on some things, especially with two different types of culture backgrounds. Why did you chose Japan to be the center of your focus for research? Also why did you chose to live there? Was it because of your research? When professors have to do research does it have to be on the field of study? I defiantly have learned a lot from this class and these blogs so thank you.
Laura Doherty
My goal is to eventually learn how to speak Japanese, so I must say that I'm very jealous. I feel like speaking it would be easier than reading it. But, I could be very wrong... My main focus is the romantic languages (Spanish and Italian in particular) -- but deciphering the ample amount of characters in the language would take a very long time to master. For that, sir, you have my respect. Very cool.
Adam Reid
This is awesome that you are able to work with somebody so far away. Technology has really helped us do a lot more with researching. Its cool that you are able to read newspapers that go back to the 1800's to help you detect certain events that happened. This project is a great way to learn and even teach your students the research you came up with.
Nicole Weinberg
Your work sounds very interesting. I can see how this can help not just the people of Japan but all over the world. Thanks for sharing.
- Andrew Hagan
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