ENG-1998 — Page 489

THE ENVIRONMENT

Wan Channel. This flow is reversed during the ebb tide. Maximum tidal currents generally range from 0.5 to 1.5 knots, peaking at 5 knots in narrow channels.

Meteorological Services

Hong Kong Observatory

The Hong Kong Observatory was established in 1883, mainly to provide scientific information for the safe navigation of ships. Since then, it has evolved in line with community needs providing services and studies. on weather forecasting, hydrometeorology, climatology, physical oceanography, aviation and marine meteorology, and radiation monitoring and assessment. The Observatory also operates the official time standard for Hong Kong, provides basic astronomical information and maintains a seismological monitoring network.

Weather forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather are the responsibility of the Central Forecasting Office at the Observatory's headquarters. Marine weather forecasts cover the South China Sea and East China Sea. Forecasts and advice are also provided for civil aviation, business and industrial communities, port and container terminal operators and the oil-prospecting industry.

Whenever Hong Kong is threatened by tropical cyclones, frequent warnings with advice on the necessary precautions to take are widely disseminated. A colour-coded rainstorm warning system is activated to warn people of heavy rain that may result in serious road flooding and traffic disruption. The Observatory also warns of thunderstorms, landslips, fire danger, strong monsoon and frost. In the summer of 1998, the Observatory began issuing special weather bulletins on very hot days to alert the public to take precautions to prevent heat stroke.

Weather programmes for the public are presented regularly on television by the Observatory's meteorologists. During adverse weather, live interviews and briefings are given over the radio and television.

The Information Enquiry System commenced operation in April 1998. This interactive telephone enquiry system provides the public with a variety of meteorological, geophysical and time information in Cantonese, Putonghua and English. More than 200 000 enquiries were received in the first few months of operation. This system is in addition to the Dial-a-Weather automatic telephone- answering system which provides hourly updates of weather forecasts, temperature readings, warnings or tropical cyclone information. About 65 100 calls were received on an average day in 1998, totalling around 24 million calls for the year.

The Observatory also maintains a Home Page on the Internet from which the latest weather forecast and information on climate, TV weather programme, tides, astronomical information and earthquakes as well as satellite imageries could be obtained. The Observatory's Home Page received more than 18 500 visits per day, totalling more than 6.75 million for the year.

Weather information is also provided to commercial communications and paging services which make it available on various electronic media. The Observatory produces a variety of meteorological and climatological publications, most of which are obtainable from the department free-of-charge.

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