U.S. - Thailand Collaboration: Geologic Records of Tropical Cyclone Strikes on the Gulf of Thailand Coast.

这项研究项目是美国和泰国的合作研究，目的是建立泰国湾沿岸热带气旋袭击的长期记录。卡特里娜飓风在美国造成的毁灭性影响突出表明，需要更好地了解热带气旋的风险和对世界各地脆弱的海岸线的影响。在泰国，热带气旋袭击的历史记录很短，只追溯到五六十年前。这项研究将使用新的古温学(研究古代风暴)来获得更长的史前记录，这些记录来自热带气旋袭击的地质和生物替代品。目前，在该地区进行的古温学研究很少，尽管这一海岸线受到强烈的热带气旋袭击，包括1989年的3级台风盖伊？泰国历史上最致命的热带气旋之一？S，在泰国湾及其周围产生了11米高的巨浪，造成800人死亡。北德克萨斯大学和朱拉隆功大学的研究人员联合进行的初步实地勘察已经选定了现场地点。所采用的方法将是对沿海沼泽进行挖沟和取芯相结合的方法，目的是识别记录史前热带气旋洗涤沉积物的异常砂层并确定其年代。这些矿床将根据沉积物结构、有机质含量、地层学和海洋微体化石进行识别。拟议的项目具有重要的社会效益，因为热带气旋袭击的长期记录的发展改进了对大型破坏性台风(如台风盖伊)复发间隔的评估。该项目将促进美国和泰国之间未来的研究合作，代表着迈向东南亚古气象记录区域数据库的第一步，并通过朱拉隆功大学和北卡罗来纳大学的学生参与，整合研究和教育。

This research project is a US-Thailand collaborative study with the objective of establishing long-term records of tropical cyclone strikes for the Gulf of Thailand coast. The devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. highlighted the need for a better understanding of tropical cyclone risk and impacts for vulnerable coastlines around the world. In Thailand, historical records of tropical cyclone strikes are short, extending back only 50 or 60 years. The study will employ the new science of paleotempestology (study of ancient storms) to obtain much longer prehistorical records derived from geologic and biologic proxies of tropical cyclone strikes. Currently, very little paleotempestological research has been conducted in this region, even though this coastline is subject to intense tropical cyclone strikes, including the 1989 Category 3 Typhoon Gay ? one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in Thailand?s history, generating 11-m-high swells and causing 800 fatalities in and around the Gulf of Thailand. Field sites have already been selected in preliminary field reconnaissance conducted jointly by researchers from the University of North Texas and Chulalongkorn University. The methods employed will be a combination of trenching and coring of coastal marshes, with the aim of identifying and dating anomalous sand beds that record prehistoric tropical cyclone washover deposits. These deposits will be identified based on sediment texture, organic content, stratigraphy and marine microfossils. The proposed project has important societal benefits because development of long-term records of tropical cyclone strikes improves assessment of recurrence intervals of large, damaging typhoons, such as Typhoon Gay. This project will catalyze future research collaborations between the U.S. and Thailand by representing a first step towards a regional database of paleotempestological records for Southeast Asia, and by integrating research and education, through participation of Chulalongkorn and UNT students.