330 The Environment
To promote public understanding of environmental radiation and preparedness for nuclear emergencies, the Observatory operates an educational webpage on the Daya Bay Contingency Plan.
Climatological, Oceanographic and Geophysical Services
The Hong Kong Observatory provides climatological information to meet the needs of users, ranging from
from recreation through engineering design and environmental impact analysis to litigation. It also provides short-range climate forecasts and carries out studies on climate change. The Observatory carried out a study on the temperature projection in Hong Kong for the 21st century and publicised the results. The long-term visibility trend in Hong Kong was also analysed and announced.
The Observatory produces an annual tide table for Hong Kong. It also provides. assessments of the probabilities of occurrence of extreme storm surges and advice on oceanographic matters to other government departments and the engineering community. Using tide data collected over the years, the Observatory carried out a study on long-term sea level change in Hong Kong in relation to global warming.
To monitor earthquake activities in the vicinity of Hong Kong, the Observatory operates a
a network of eight short-period seismograph stations. Long-period seismographs at the Observatory's headquarters detect tremors worldwide and information on significant tremors is made public through the media. In case of a severe submarine earthquake, a warning would be issued if a tsunami is likely to affect Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Time Standard is provided by a caesium beam atomic clock. Accuracy within fractions of a microsecond is maintained. In 2004, the Observatory started contributing to the determination of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by supplying signals of its atomic clock to the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) in France. A six-pip time signal is sent to Radio Television Hong Kong for broadcast at quarter-hour intervals. Time checking service is also available to the public through the Observatory's Telephone Information Enquiry System as well as through the Internet. The Internet Network Time Service provided about 290 million checks in 2004.
Home Pages
Environment, Transport and Works Bureau: http://www.etwb.gov.hk Economic Development and Labour Bureau: http://www.edib.gov.hk
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department: http://www.afcd.gov.hk Environmental Protection Department: http://www.epd.gov.hk
Hong Kong Observatory: http://www.hko.gov.hk and http://www.weather.gov.hk
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