HONG KONG 2004 - The Environment

The Hong Kong Observatory was established in 1883, mainly to provide scientific information for the safe navigation of ships. Since then, it has evolved in line with community needs, providing services in weather forecasting, climatology, hydrometeorology, physical oceanography and radiation monitoring and assessment. The Observatory also administers the official time standard for Hong Kong, provides astronomical information and maintains a seismological monitoring network.

The Observatory issues weather forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather to the public, mariners, the aviation community and special users such as container terminals and transport operators.

Whenever Hong Kong is threatened by tropical cyclones, warnings are widely disseminated through the mass media. A colour-coded rainstorm warning system warns people of heavy rain. The Observatory also issues warnings on thunderstorms, landslips, fire danger, strong monsoons, cold and very hot weather, frost and tsunamis. An advisory service on the ultraviolet (UV) index is also provided.

To promote public education and awareness about hazardous weather, the Observatory runs a programme of meteorological courses for members of the public and government personnel, exhibitions, scientific lectures, Open Days and guided tours of the Observatory.

The Observatory's meteorologists host regular TV and radio weather programmes. Additional media briefings are conducted in case of adverse weather. In addition to an automatic telephone enquiry system and a highly popular Internet site, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) website specially designed for mobile users was launched in 2004. Animated sequences of radar displays and the weather information at three popular tourist spots were also added to the Observatory's website It remained one of the Government's most popular websites, recording over 360 million hits in 2004.

The Observatory takes an active role in fostering international cooperation to enhance weather services. The Observatory develops and manages two websites on behalf of the World Meteorological Organisation, which make available official weather observations, forecasts and warnings around the world to the international community. In 2004, Hong Kong hosted the 13th Session of the World Meteorological Organisation Regional Association II (Asia). The Director of the Hong Kong Observatory was elected as the Vice President of the Association at the session.

The Observatory exchanges weather observations and forecasts with the rest of the world under the framework of the World Meteorological Organisation. In addition, the Observatory exchanges weather radar images and observations of automatic weather stations with the meteorological authorities of Guangdong and Macao. The Observatory monitors the weather using a wide range of equipment including meteorological satellites, weather radars, automatic weather stations, weather buoys, upper-air sounding system and wind profilers. These observing systems are augmented by observations from aircraft and voluntary observing ships. The Observatory also operates tide gauges to monitor the sea-level.

In 2004, a replacement upper-air sounding system capable of automated balloon launching was installed. The Observatory started to receive high-resolution imagery from earth observing satellites in mid 2004, and produced high-quality true-colour images for reference by the Hong Kong public via the Observatory's website.

To mitigate damage due to floods and landslips, rainstorm and landslip warnings are issued based on the objective guidance provided by a 'nowcasting' system developed by the Observatory. This system automatically analyses radar and rain gauge data and forecasts rainfall distribution in Hong Kong in the next few hours.

High-resolution numerical weather prediction models operated by the Observatory as well as those of meteorological centres overseas constitute the backbone of weather forecasting. They are used in support of weather forecasts up to seven days ahead. A new web page was launched in 2004 to display forecast weather charts produced by the Observatory's own computer model, to provide the public with information on changing weather patterns in the region.

In 2004, the Observatory's tropical cyclone warning service was enhanced to include new features such as 72-hour tropical cyclone intensity forecasts and a Chinese version of the Tropical Cyclone Warning for Shipping.

During the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, the Observatory for the first time provided meteorological support to the Hong Kong Olympic windsurfing team. A computer model was run to produce tailor-made weather information on a dedicated website accessible by the team during the Games.

The Observatory's Airport Meteorological Office is responsible for providing weather services for civil aviation for a designated airspace over the northern part of the South China Sea.

The infrared Doppler Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system at Hong Kong International Airport became operational in May 2004, strengthening significantly the windshear monitoring capability at the airport. It captured for the first time in Hong Kong wind data around a tornado on September 6, 2004.

The Observatory also developed an automatic windshear detection method utilising weather buoys installed around the airport to improve alerts on windshear caused by sea breeze.

The Observatory operates a network of 10 radiation monitoring stations to continuously monitor radiation levels in Hong Kong. Samples of air, water, soil and food are regularly collected over various parts of Hong Kong and their radiological contents measured.

If a nuclear emergency occurs or is likely to occur, the Observatory will immediately intensify radiation monitoring, collect relevant information for assessing the radiological consequences and provide technical advice to the relevant policy bureaux regarding the appropriate protective actions to take.

To promote public understanding of environmental radiation and preparedness for nuclear emergencies, the Observatory operates an educational webpage on the Daya Bay Contingency Plan.

The Hong Kong Observatory provides climatological information to meet the needs of users, ranging from recreation through engineering design and environmental impact analysis to litigation. It also provides short-range climate forecasts and carries out studies on climate change. The Observatory carried out a study on the temperature projection in Hong Kong for the 21st century and publicised the results. The long-term visibility trend in Hong Kong was also analysed and announced.

The Observatory produces an annual tide table for Hong Kong. It also provides assessments of the probabilities of occurrence of extreme storm surges and advice on oceanographic matters to other government departments and the engineering community. Using tide data collected over the years, the Observatory carried out a study on long-term sea level change in Hong Kong in relation to global warming.

To monitor earthquake activities in the vicinity of Hong Kong, the Observatory operates a network of eight short-period seismograph stations. Long-period seismographs at the Observatory's headquarters detect tremors worldwide and information on significant tremors is made public through the media. In case of a severe submarine earthquake, a warning would be issued if a tsunami is likely to affect Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Time Standard is provided by a caesium beam atomic clock. Accuracy within fractions of a microsecond is maintained. In 2004, the Observatory started contributing to the determination of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by supplying signals of its atomic clock to the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in France. A six-pip time signal is sent to Radio Television Hong Kong for broadcast at quarter-hour intervals. Time checking service is also available to the public through the Observatory's Telephone Information Enquiry System as well as through the Internet. The Internet Network Time Service provided about 290 million checks in 2004.