ENG-2015 — Page 305

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The Environment

organised a joint webcast of a total lunar eclipse with the Hong Kong Space Museum, the Ho Koon Nature Education cum Astronomical Centre, the Po Leung Kuk Ngan Po Ling College and the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Solar Tower.

Official Time Standard

As Hong Kong's official timekeeper, the Observatory maintains a Time Standard that is accurate to within one ten-millionth of a second per day and contributes to the determination of Co- ordinated Universal Time by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Time checks are available to the public through an online network time service, web clocks, the Dial-a-Weather telephone service and local radio stations. The time service handled about 13.4 billion time checks in 2015.

International Co-operation

During the year, memoranda of understanding were signed with Meteo-France and the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration to enhance collaboration in areas such as weather forecast, numerical weather prediction, aviation weather services and tropical cyclone monitoring.

Public Education

To promote the public's awareness of hazardous weather and understanding of climate change, the Observatory conducts a broad range of educational and outreach activities. In 2015, it held seminars, talks and investigative study competitions, launched a mobile version of the Educational Resources webpage and a series of online quiz games, produced educational television programmes with the Education Bureau and online short videos on the theme of climate change, and published a pamphlet titled 'Hong Kong in a Warming World: The Observatory also produced short videos to raise awareness of mitigation measures one should take during tropical cyclones and issued two television and radio Announcements in the Public Interest on threats of thunderstorms and tropical cyclone swells.

Volunteers from 'Friends of the Observatory, which has more than 11,000 members, support the Observatory's annual open day and conduct public tours of its headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui on Saturdays. The Observatory's Community Weather Information Network, developed jointly with Hong Kong Polytechnic University, encourages members of the public to participate in weather observation and share their experiences through its Community Weather Observing Scheme. Weather and cloud photos collected from the scheme were used to produce the Observatory's 2016 calendar.

Government Laboratory

The Government Laboratory supports the enforcement of environmental protection legislation and implementation of environmental programmes by providing comprehensive analytical and advisory services. In 2015, numerous tests on environmental samples of air, water, sediment, soil, biota, waste, and liquid fuel, including motor vehicle fuel, marine fuel and biodiesel, were conducted to furnish these programmes with the necessary data. The laboratory also offers analytical services for chemicals regulated under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants to help government departments advance the HKSAR Implementation Plan.

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