Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: Typhoon
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This question belongs to physical geography and climatology. Tropical cyclones are powerful low pressure systems that form over warm ocean waters, but they are known by different names in different ocean basins. Competitive exams often ask candidates to match regional names such as hurricane, cyclone and typhoon with their locations. Here, the focus is on the China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
The concept is that the same type of weather system has different regional names. In the North Atlantic and eastern Pacific, such systems are called hurricanes. In the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, they are usually called cyclones. In the western Pacific and regions around the China Sea, they are called typhoons. Tornadoes and twisters are different, smaller scale rotating storms over land, and willy willy is a term used in Australia for dust storms or small cyclones.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the region in question: the China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean near East and Southeast Asia.
Step 2: Recall the standard naming convention: hurricanes in the Atlantic, cyclones in the Indian Ocean, and typhoons in the western Pacific.
Step 3: Recognise that tornado and twister are short lived violent rotating columns of air, not broad oceanic tropical cyclones.
Step 4: Remember that willy willy is associated with Australian usage, not specifically the China Sea.
Step 5: Therefore, the correct term for tropical cyclones in the China Sea region is typhoon.
Verification / Alternative check:
Weather bulletins and international news regularly refer to powerful storms striking the Philippines, Japan or coastal China as typhoons. The same type of storm hitting the United States or Caribbean is called a hurricane. This consistent usage has become a standard exam point in geography, and it confirms that typhoon is the term associated with the China Sea and western Pacific.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A (Hurricanes) is wrong because that word is used mainly for storms in the North Atlantic and eastern Pacific near the Americas, not near China and Japan.
Option B (Tornado) is incorrect; tornadoes are localised, funnel shaped storms over land, different from large scale tropical cyclones over the sea.
Option C (Twister) is also wrong; it is another word for tornado, again not the same phenomenon as a tropical cyclone.
Option E (Willy willy) refers to dust storms or small whirlwinds in Australia and is not the standard term for western Pacific cyclones.
Common Pitfalls:
A common mistake is to think that hurricane is a general name for all strong storms, but geography for exams requires using region specific terms. Another pitfall is not distinguishing between tornadoes and tropical cyclones. Students should remember a simple mapping: hurricane (Atlantic), cyclone (Indian Ocean), typhoon (western Pacific). This quick memory aid makes questions like this easy to answer.
Final Answer:
Tropical cyclones that form over the China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean are called Typhoon.
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