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THE ENVIRONMENT

Agency in making these measurements. Plans are in hand to implement a more comprehen- sive programme of background radiation monitoring.

The Royal Observatory

The Royal Observatory was established in 1883 mainly to provide scientific information for the safe navigation of ships. In the ensuing century, the observatory has evolved in line with the changing needs of the community. Although the department's work now covers a wide range of disciplines, its most important function remains to be the provision of weather forecasts and tropical cyclone warnings for the public, shipping, aviation and other industries.

Operations and Services

The Central Forecasting Office issues local weather forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather conditions to the press, radio and television broadcasting stations, and government departments. Whenever Hong Kong is threatened by tropical cyclones, frequent warnings with advice on necessary precautions are issued and widely disseminated. Other warnings cover thunderstorms, flooding, landslips, storm surge, fire danger, strong monsoons and frost. Regular weather bulletins are issued to ships at sea, fishermen in coastal waters and yachtsmen. Specialised forecasts are prepared on request for inshore operations within Hong Kong waters and offshore operations in the China Seas. From January 1, metric units were introduced in the provision of public weather services.

Following the successful completion of two Typhoon Operational Experiments in 1982 and 1983, organised under the auspices of an international Typhoon Committee, the usefulness of enhanced exchange of observational data and forecasts among meteorological services in the region during tropical cyclone situations was generally recognised. During the year, the Royal Observatory continued to take part in the programme of enhanced information exchange and provided a chief editor for the publication of the ‘ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee Annual Review 1985' for the Typhoon Committee.

Services for aviation are provided by the Airport Meteorological Office. About 90 departing aircraft each day are supplied with prognostic weather charts and aerodrome forecasts. Special warnings are issued for adverse weather. Wind conditions at the airport and its vicinity are monitored continuously by using a network of anemometers and a doppler acoustic radar at Lei Yue Mun on the southeastern approach to the airport.

To provide these services, meteorological data are received from other countries through a computerised telecommunication system. This information is regularly analysed and supplied to forecasters while the coded messages are also transmitted to neighbouring countries.

Weather observers at the Royal Observatory headquarters, Hong Kong International Airport and Cheung Chau keep a continuous watch on local conditions. Additional observations are made by the Marine Department at Waglan Island and Green Island, by the Royal Navy at Tai O and by the Royal Air Force at Sek Kong. Anemometers are also operated by the observatory in some other locations. Winds recorded at the Star Ferry Pier, Kowloon, and at Waglan Island, representing conditions in Victoria Harbour and offshore, are telemetered to the Central Forecasting Office. A spherics recorder is used to register thunderstorm activity within a range of about 100 kilometres, and a lightning location system provides information on lightning within about 130 kilometres. The observatory also operates a dense network of rain gauge stations, mostly by voluntary observers. Up-to-the-minute rainfall information is collected from 20 automatic rain gauges using a