Beijing has set up new automatic weather stations (AWS) around
local sports venues, in order to provide accurate weather forecasts
for the 2008 Olympic Games, a local newspaper, The Beijing
News reported Wednesday.
Currently, the city has 176 AWSs, one for every 5 square
kilometers in urban areas and one for every 10 or 15 sq km in the
suburbs, a spokesman for the municipal meteorological bureau told
the newspaper.
According to the official, the bureau plans to build up to 15
AWSs for Olympic sites, of which 12 have been completed. The
completed stations are in major Olympic venues like Olympic
National Park, Shunyi Olympic Aquatic Park, Chaoyang Park,
Xiannongtan Stadium, Fengtai Sport Center, Beijing Country
Equestrian Park, and the Tennis Center of Olympic National
Park.
"The 13th one is being built in the base of the Paralympic Games
in Beijing's northeastern Shunyi District," said the official.
"AWSs in Olympic sites have to meet special requirements such as
the ability to measure visibility and total radiation and
ultra-violet ray radiation. That is in addition to measuring
temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind direction, wind
force and precipitation", he said.
"These AWSs will collect meteorological information at the
Olympic venues on a large scale and help local meteorological
offices to provide more accurate and timely weather forecasts," he
added.
Zhang Mingying, an expert with the bureau, said that to obtain
more detailed and accurate weather information, more AWSs will be
built in the city next year.
(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2007)