By the end of 2003, China had in place a meteorological monitoring system consisting of 400 radar antennae, 1,606 automated meteorological stations and six satellites. The system has made weather information increasingly accessible to the public.

China has successfully modernized its meteorological services, said Qin Dahe, director of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), on Tuesday at a ceremony in Beijing celebrating International Meteorological Day, which falls on March 23 every year.

To mark this year’s Meteorological Day, themed “Weather, Climate and Water in an Information Age,” the CMA entertained visitors from all walks of life last Saturday, opening the usually low-profile administration to questions such as “Why has snowfall in Beijing kept decreasing in recent years?” and showing over 2,000 interested people how weather programs on TV are made.

Hu Yuanyuan, a student from the University of International Business and Economics who toured the CMA on Saturday, told Xinhua that meteorological information is critical because “almost all human activities are closely related to factors such as weather, climate and water.”

Against a backdrop of unprecedented social and economic changes, China is facing many challenges in disaster relief, food security, water resource management, transportation, tourism and pollution control, none of which are independent of meteorological factors.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports that meteorological and hydrographic disasters were responsible for more than 80 percent of the total losses caused by natural disasters in the past ten years.

China, plagued by conditions such as drought, flood, heat and frost, is one of the most highly affected countries in the world by meteorological disasters. Some 600 million Chinese people are affected every year and economic losses are enormous.

However, as China seeks a path to sustainable development, weather, climate and water have attracted unprecedented attention from the general public.

“Quick collection and distribution of meteorological information will greatly facilitate the cause of reasonably developing and protecting climatic and water resources,” said Wang Yongguang, of the China Climate Center.

The WMO launched International Meteorological Day in 1960. The annual event focuses on a particular theme each year and features global activities to increase public interest in and knowledge of meteorology.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2004)