MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1976
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HONG KONG'S WEATHER ROLE SPOTLIGHTED
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HONG KONG'S ROLE IN THE GLOBAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM OF THE WORLD WEATHER WATCH PROGRAMME IS HIGHLIGHTED IN THE NEWLY-PUBLISHED ROYAL OBSERVATORY CALENDAR FOR 1977.
PRODUCED IN A COMBINED ENGLISH AND CHINESE EDITION, THE COLOUR-ILLUSTRATED CALENDAR, WHICH CONTAINS A COLLECTION OF INTERESTING DATA, CHARTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS, IS NOW ON SALE AT $7 AT THE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS CENTRE, STAR FERRY CONCOURSE, HONG KONG.
THE FUNCTIONS OF THE GLOBAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM ARE TO COLLECT METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, TO DISTRIBUTE THEM TO CENTRES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AND TO EXCHANGE PROCESSED INFORMATION WITH OTHER CENTRES.
HONG KONG IS CONNECTED BY POINT-TO-POINT TELETYPE CIRCUITS WITH TOKYO, PEKING AND BANGKOK, WHICH IN TURN ARE DIRECTLY OR
INDIRECTLY LINKED WITH WASHINGTON, MOSCOW AND MELBOURNE.
OBSERVATIONAL DATA COLLECTED IN HONG KONG IS FED INTO THE GLOBAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM FOR TRANSMISSION TO TOKYO, PEKING AND BANGKOK AND FOR FURTHER RELAY TO OTHER CENTRES. IN RETURN, OBSERVATIONAL AND PROCESSED DATA FROM TOKYO, PEKING AND BANGKOK ARE TRANSMITTED TO HONG KONG.
A COMPUTER AT THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY HANDLES ALL THE RECEPTION, TRANSMISSION, SELECTION AND RELAY OF METEOROLOGICAL MESSAGES REQUIRED IN CONNECTION WITH HONG KONG'S PARTICIPATION IN THE SYSTEM.
THE OBSERVATORY'S COMPUTER SYSTEM IS USED TO DECODE, CHECK, ANALYSE AND STORE METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION RECEIVED THROUGH TELECOMMUNICATION CIRCUITS. DATA IS RECEIVED CONTINUOUSLY AND PROCESSED IN BATCHES EVERY SIX HOURS.
A WEATHER CHART WHICH INVOLVES SORTING, DECODING AND PLOTTING A LARGE VOLUME OF DATA AND THOUSANDS OF COMPUTATIONS CAN NOW BE PRODUCED BY COMPUTER IN A FEW MINUTES.
THE NEW CALENDAR CONTAINS CHARTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS ON A VARIET OF TOPICS, INCLUDING LIGHTNING, FOG, RADAR OBSERVATION OF TROPICAL CYCLONES, WEATHER CHARTS PRODUCED BY COMPUTER AND THE MOVEMENT OF TROPICAL CYCLONES.
THE DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, MR. GORDON J. BELL, NOTES THAT THE CALENDAR HAS BEEN PRODUCED TO ACKNOWLEDGE +OUR APPRECIATION OF THE WORK OF VOLUNTARY WEATHER OBSERVERS AND SIGNAL STATION OPERATORS.+