Shanghai meteorologists will be able to better monitor lightning and thunderstorm activity when an advanced alarm system goes into operation next month.

Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan are among the first cities to install the system, which will eventually become a nationwide alarm network.

"The employment of such a system will greatly enhance our capability to monitor lightning and better safeguard our city against natural disasters," said Wang Jianchu, director of the Shanghai Center of Lightning Protection.

The alarm system, called SAFIR3000, is a lightning positioning device purchased from Finland. It will provide 24-hour monitoring of lightning over the entire city and neighboring sea area, including the under-construction Yangshan Port.

In carefully selected locales -- Nanhui District, Chongming Island in Shanghai and Haiyan in Zhejiang Province -- five 12-meter antennas have been installed to measure the intensity of thunder.

Utilizing real-time data, experts with the Shanghai Central Meteorological Station and the lightning protection center will be able to track the position and force of strikes and predict future strikes and positions up to one hour in advance. Citizens will be alerted in time to leave or avoid areas of potential danger.

(China Daily August 30, 2003)