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THE ENVIRONMENT
the same morning at Tai Mo Shan and Tate's Cairn were -4.0°C and -2.0°C respectively. Snow was reported at Tai Mo Shan while ice and frost were frequently observed on high ground between December 13 and 17. During this cold spell, 12 people were reported to have died of cold, but damage to crops in the New Territories was not serious.
The Royal Observatory
The Royal Observatory is directly concerned with all matters relating to mete- orology, geophysics and environmental sciences. It provides a diversity of services on a broad spectrum of environmental problems.
Hong Kong is a focal point of world communications-with one of the busiest ports in the world and an airport that now handles a considerable part of all domestic exports. The territory's prosperity depends largely on the safe and efficient operation of ships and aircraft under all weather conditions, and Hong Kong experiences a variety of weather unusual in the tropics. During the summer months, it is affected in varying degrees by about five times as many tropical cyclones as the most exposed parts of Florida. Consequently the Royal Observatory plays an important role in the life of the community and the million tourists that visit Hong Kong each year.
The observatory operates weather forecasting, tropical cyclone warning and various other services to meet the needs of shipping, aviation and the general public. Within the observatory establishment, a wide variety of meteorological observations are made and recorded. Surface observations of pressure, wind, air temperature, humidity, weather, visibility, rainfall and cloud are made around the clock at the Royal Observatory, King's Park, Tate's Cairn, Hong Kong International Airport and Cheung Chau. Regular upper air soundings of wind, temperature, pressure and humidity are made at King's Park, using balloon-borne instruments. Sunshine, solar radiation, evaporation, evapotranspiration, earth temperatures at various depths, sea waves and sea temperatures are also recorded.
Close liaison is maintained with all ships visiting Hong Kong and about 35 selected ships are provided with instruments by the observatory to encourage them to transmit weather reports which are used in the preparation of forecasts and for locating tropical cyclones. About 45 weather reports are received each day from ships, through two coastal radio stations in Hong Kong. All reports are disseminated to other centres through the World Weather Watch telecommunication network.
About 8,000 weather reports from land stations and ships are received from other countries each day, together with aircraft reports and other data. They are decoded, plotted and analysed at the Royal Observatory. Special weather bulletins are broadcast for shipping and fishermen. All aircraft leaving Hong Kong are given briefings, written forecasts and weather charts.
Providing the tropical cyclone warning service is one of the most important functions of the Royal Observatory. Whenever a tropical cyclone is located within the region bounded by latitudes 10°-30°N and longitudes 105°-125°E, warnings for shipping are generally issued every three hours. These provide information on the