Evidence from the satellite observations of TRMM/TMI indicates a patch of 3 0C SST cold wake after the passage of Typhoon Rusa (2002), while the follow-up Typhoon Sinlkau passed through this cold-wake zone. To evaluate how the SST cold wake affects the intensity evolution of Sinlaku, we run a meso-scale numerical model with two different SST conditions: one based on the typical monthly mean SST, the other based on the newly-composited SST containing the patch of cold wake using the TRMM/TMI data. It is found that the storm intensity from the simulation with the cold wake is about 20 hPa weaker than that not containing the cold wake. Strong contrasts in the latent and sensible heat fluxes are found in the two experiments, especially near the storm core area, where the strongest winds were exerting over the cold sea surface. The difference in their impact on the Maximum Potential Intensity (MPI) is also shown to evaluate the impact of cold wake on the theoretical upper bound of the storm intensity. Work is undergoing to run a simple mixed-layer model to investigate how Rusa induces such a cold wake. An air-sea coupled model will also be employed to study the whole typhoon-ocean interaction processes.