ENG-2000 — Page 354

THE ENVIRONMENT

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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 in 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.

The Central Forecasting Office at the Observatory's headquarters is responsible for issuing weather forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather. Marine weather forecasts cover the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Forecasts and advice are also provided to civil aviation, business and industrial communities, port and container terminal operators and the oil-prospecting industry. Beginning from January 1, the four-day weather forecast for the public was extended to a five-day forecast.

Whenever Hong Kong is threatened by tropical cyclones, frequent warnings are widely disseminated together with advice on the precautions to take. New names with regional characteristics as contributed by 14 countries and territories of the Typhoon Committee were assigned to tropical cyclones with effect from 2000. There is a colour-coded rainstorm warning system to warn people of heavy rain that may cause serious road flooding and traffic disruption. The Observatory also issues warnings on thunderstorms, landslips, fire danger, strong monsoon, cold and very hot weather, and frost. An advisory service on the Ultraviolet (UV) Index is also provided.

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. Weather information is disseminated to commercial communications and paging services, making it available on various electronic media.

In early 2000, the Observatory established a resource centre in a commercial building in Tsim Sha Tsui so that the public can obtain or purchase weather information and publications more conveniently.

The Dial-a-Weather service operated by the Observatory provides recorded weather messages to the public. In 2000, the total number of calls handled was close to 23 million.

The Information Enquiry System is an interactive enquiry system through which the public could obtain a variety of meteorological, geophysical and time information by phone or by fax in Cantonese, Putonghua and English. In 2000, the system handled over one million enquiries.

The Observatory maintains an informative Internet home page at http://www.info.gov.hk/hkol. Additional regional weather information for various places in Hong Kong was introduced on the home page in June. The Observatory's publications and educational material on meteorology, geophysics and related subjects were also placed on the home page to promote public understanding of these