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INTRODUCTION

The Hong Kong Observatory’s three main objectives are:

(1) to provide weather services to meet the public’s demand for short to medium range forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather and to provide forecasts for international aviation and shipping in accordance with the safety standards of international organizations;

(2) to provide information on local environmental radiation levels and effects and to advise the Government on countermeasures that may be necessary during nuclear emergencies;

(3) to maintain the Hong Kong time standard and to provide geophysical, oceanographic, astronomical and climatological information and consultative services to the public and private sectors.

During the financial year 2008-2009, the department’s total expenditure was $206,315,000 and the total revenue was $82,094,000. By the end of the financial year, there were altogether 281 civil servants and 20 contract staff working in the department.

The activities of the Observatory from April 2008 to March 2009 are highlighted in the following paragraphs.

HIGHLIGHTS

The Hong Kong Observatory celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2008. To commemorate the occasion, the Observatory organized a special exhibition on ‘Weathering the Storms for 125 Years’ at the Hong Kong Museum of History from July to September to illustrate its history of development. The Observatory also published the book ‘Weathering the Storms’ to let readers appreciate the Observatory’s history from a human perspective.

Dr Ng Chi-wa (left), Assistant Director of the Leisure and Cultural Services, Mr Lam Chiu-ying (middle), Director of the Hong Kong Observatory and Ms Leung Kit-ling (right), Chief Curator of the Hong Kong Museum of History officiated at the opening ceremony of the "Weathering the Storms for 125 Years" exhibition

Front cover of ‘Weathering the Storms'

The Observatory won a number of awards in 2008-2009 as follows:

The World Weather Information Service (WWIS) website (http://worldweather.wmo.int) operated by

Hong Kong Observatory2008 - 2009

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the Observatory on behalf of the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) won the prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award 2008 in the Environment category;

Dr Tam Cheuk-ming of the Hong Kong Observatory receiving the Stockholm Challenge Award at the Blue Hall of the Stockholm City Hall

Four prizes in the Hong Kong Information and Communication Technology Award for the Location-Specific Lightning Alert Service, the Airport Thunderstorm and Lightning Alerting System, the Weather Wizard and the Weather Service for the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian Events;

Silver Prize of the 2007 - 08 Web Care Award in the e-Inclusion Campaign organized by the Internet Professional Association;

Yahoo! Hong Kong’s BUZZ Award 2008;

“Class of Good” Energywise Label Award and “Class of Good” Wastewise Label Award in the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence;

"Caring Organisation" in 2008/09 under the "Caring Organisation Scheme";

2008/09 Community Chest "Corporate and Employee Contribution Programme Bronze Award", "Employee Contribution Programme Certificate of Merit" and "CARE Scheme Civil Service Category Highest Per Capita Contribution Award".

The public opinion survey conducted by the Observatory in October 2008 indicated that, on the average, members of the public considered 77.7% of the weather forecasts accurate. On a scale of 0 to 10, the public gave an

average score of 7.8 to the Observatory’s overall services.

PUBLIC WEATHER FORECASTING AND WARNING SERVICES

New Typhoon Categorisation

To heighten people's alertness of stronger typhoons, the Observatory further categorised 'Typhoon' into 'Typhoon', 'Severe Typhoon' and 'Super Typhoon' starting from the 2009 typhoon season.

Rainfall Nowcast for the Pearl River Delta Region

The Observatory launched the forecast maps of rainfall distribution within the next two hours over Hong Kong and the neighbouring Pearl River Delta region in October 2008. The maps provided quantified rainfall forecast information in graphical form for the public travelling to and from Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong.

Forecast rainfall distribution for Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta region

Public Weather Information Service

The Observatory website (www.weather.gov.hk and www.hko.gov.hk) continued to be very popular in 2008-2009 with the number of page views exceeding 1.5 billion, an increase of about 50 percent compared with that of the previous year.

In 2008-2009, the Observatory further enhanced its website to include the following new information and services:

A new version of the lightning location information

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webpage in which users can choose to display lightning locations over a detailed map, an aerial imagery or a terrain map. In another enhancement, a location-specific lightning alert service was launched. The public can choose their location of interest and click directly on the lightning map to specify the place of concern. An alert will be provided automatically whenever there is lightning within a 15 km range of the specified location ;

Location specific lightning alert webpage

A new version of the Weather Wizard gadget based on suggestions from the public to make it more user-friendly and informative;

The Weather Wizard showing the latest weather condition over Hong Kong, ultraviolet index at King's Park and the air temperature and relative humidity at Sha Tin

A new webpage on "Backward Trajectory Map" which shows the backward trajectory of the air mass reaching Hong Kong for the past 72 hours. Thewebpage enables the public to trace the origin of air mass reaching Hong Kong under different weather patterns;

A new webpage on the Regional Climate of Hong Kong;

Addition of Lau Fau Shan real-time weather photos to the “Regional Weather” webpage;

Enhancement of the ultraviolet index information

service in July 2008 by adding an advisory message to the Observatory's hourly weather report, reminding the public to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun and preventing eye and skin damages when the index is forecast to be 11 or above;

The Director's Blog launched on the Observatory website in May 2008 where the Director shares his views with the public on current issues;

The Really Simple Syndication (RSS) service on the HKO website to provide updated weather news as well as current weather conditions to PC users on the Internet.

The Observatory’s Dial-a-Weather service (187 8200) handled a total of over 22 million calls in 2008-2009, an increase of about 7 percent compared with the previous year.

Professional meteorologists of the Observatory produced and hosted television weather programmes for major television channels in the morning and evening, while Weather Service Officers of the Observatory provided the public with the latest weather situation through radio interviews every Friday to facilitate planning for the weekend.

Weather Services for other Government Departments and Special Clients

A total of 345 users from 62 government departments registered for the service of the very popular Government Weather Information Server (GOWISE).

Specialized weather services were provided to utility companies, public transport operators, engineering contractors and information providers on a cost-recovery basis. 85 clients subscribed to the Observatory’s specialized services in 2008-2009, generating a revenue of about $1.3 million.

Weather Services in support of the 2008 Olympic Games

During the 2008 Olympic Games, the Observatory provided special weather services for the Equestrian Events held in Hong Kong. A special website was developed to provide weather information to the event personnel and the public. With the deployment of a special Equestrian Forecasting team, the Observatory maintained close liaison with the Equestrian Company and Federation Equestre Internationale Veterinary Delegate to provide timely advice on the weather round the clock to support their decision-making in respect of

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scheduling of competitions and venue operations. In addition to supporting the Olympic Games locally, the Observatory provided a tailor-made weather information service to support Hong Kong’s windsurfing team competing in Qingdao and operated a nowcasting system to support its counterparts in Beijing in forecasting severe weather.

The Equestrian Forecasting Team, Dr Yeung Kwok-chung, Mr. Lee Kwok-lun and Miss Li Yuet-sim (from left to right) of the Hong Kong Observatory

Observation Networks

Under the "One District One Station" initiative launched in 2007, automatic weather stations for the Wanchai and Wong Tai Sin Districts were officially opened in December 2008 and March 2009 respectively.The new stations provide the latest temperature readings round the clock for the two districts.

(From left to right) Mrs Teresa Wong, District Officer of the Wong Tai Sin District; Mr Li Tak-hong, Chairman of the Wong Tai Sin District Council; Mr Lam Chiu-ying, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, and Ms Yau Lai-sze, District Leisure Manager of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, officiating at the opening ceremony of the automatic weather station for the Wong Tai Sin District

The Observatory's new solar radiation station at Kau

Sai Chau, Sai Kung, was officially opened in July 2008. The station measures air temperature, relative humidity and rainfall, in addition to solar radiation.

The Observatory’s new solar radiation station at Kau Sai Chau

Satellite Reception System

The Observatory installed a receiving station for satellite data from the 'FengyunCast' system in early 2008. Through a satellite antenna at the Observatory Headquarters, images from a number of weather satellites can be received. These include images from the Chinese Fengyun-2 satellites, FY-2D and FY2-C, which were both geostationary weather satellites capable of capturing images over the Asia-Pacific region round the clock. A new webpage of images from FY-2D was launched in June 2008.

Satellite antenna for receiving broadcast from the weather satellite ‘FenyunCast’ system at the Observatory’s Headquarters

AVIATION WEATHER SERVICES

The Observatory celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Airport Meteorological Office at Chek Lap Kok in July 2008. Over the past decade, the Observatory’s

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aviation weather services attained new heights with international recognition and awards.

Mr. Lam Chiu-ying (left, front row), Director of the Hong Kong Observatory and Dr. Lee Boon-ying, Assistant Director (right, front row), celebrating the 10th anniversary at the Airport Meteorological Office with staff

In 2008-2009, some 150,000 flight documents were provided by the Observatory for aircraft departing the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), similar to that of the previous year. At the same time, the web-based Aviation Meteorological Information Dissemination System became even more popular, with the total number of access exceeding 18 million, an increase of over 22 % from the previous year.

The Observatory’s windshear and turbulence alerts maintained a high hit rate of about 90 % in the last four years.

The Observatory launched a new Airport Thunderstorm and Lightning Alerting Service (ATLAS) in collaboration with the Airport Authority in July 2008. ATLAS delivers graphical displays and alerts of lightning to enable the Airport Authority to issue Amber and Red lightning warning signals at the airport. The system enhanced the airport thunderstorm and lightning alerting service by improving detection efficiency and shortening the warning duration, thus better protecting passengers and the airport against lightning and thunderstorms.

The Observatory collaborated with the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA), WMO and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to publish a set of three new wind shear posters and distribut them to all Contracting States on behalf of ICAO. The three posters aim at promulgating the most up-to-date educational material on windshear for enhancement of aviation safety worldwide.

The set of three new wind shear posters jointly developed by the Hong Kong Observatory, IFALPA, WMO and ICAO

The Observatory, Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAANZ) and Bureau of Meteorology of Australia (BoM) collaborated with ICAO and WMO in developing a set of three posters on the best practices in issuing SIGMET for warning en-route hazardous weather information for aircraft. The three posters provide examples for meteorological offices to prepare and disseminate SIGMET messages, covering volcanic ash, tropical cyclone and other weather phenomena. Apart from serving as a quick reference for the aviation forecasters, these posters also highlight the importance of SIGMET to the safety of flights for the aviation users.

The set of three SIGMET posters jointly developed by the Hong Kong Observatory, CAANZ, BoM, ICAO and WMO

In 2008-2009, the Observatory launched a website for the WMO to promulgate the work of its expert team in developing the New Terminal Forecast to supplement the legacy Aerodrome Forecast (TAF). In addition, entrusted by WMO, the Observatory launched a pilot website on "Aviation-weather Disaster Risk Reduction", focusing on tropical cyclones over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific.

The Observatory, together with representatives from airlines and pilots, celebrated the 15th Anniversary of the Liaison Group on Aviation Weather Services in August 2008. The liaison group provides a good channel for direct exchange of views between the aviation users and the Observatory, enabling the needs of the aviation users to be better understood for further enhancement of the aviation weather services.

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Mr Lam Chiu-ying (centre), Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, together with staff and representatives of airlines and pilots, celebrated the 15th Anniversary of the Hong Kong Liaison Group on Aviation Weather Service

As the existing meteorological facilities have been in operation for years, the Observatory secured approval from the Legislative Council Finance Committee in February 2009 for a funding of 154 million dollars to replace and upgrade meteorological facilities for the HKIA to maintain efficiency, to cope with future increase in air traffic and to satisfy the demand of enhancing the quality of aviation weather service.

In 2008-2009, the Observatory delivered a meteorological training course for the "Dragonair Aviation Certificate Programme" to provide participants with basic training on weather observation and aviation weather forecasting. An Observatory staff gave a briefing on "Weather Information for General Aviation" to the Hong Kong Helicopter Club. Moreover, Observatory staff also visited the Integrated Operations Centre of the Cathay Pacific Airways to gain a better understanding on the needs and expectations of the airlines on weather information and how they utilized and interpreted the Observatory’s forecasts for the airport.

Participants of the "Dragonair Aviation Certificate Programme" and Observatory's staff (front row, left and right)

The Observatory successfully completed the second re-certification of the ISO 9001 quality management system for aviation meteorological service in October 2008 and received the renewed certificate. Re-certification is a full-scale audit carried out once every 3 years which is supplemented by annual surveillance audits to monitor the effectiveness of the quality management system.

Renewed certificate of the ISO9001 quality management system for aviation meteorological service

The Observatory successfully completed the audit under the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP) in March 2009. The program was established in 1999 with an aim to promote global aviation safety through auditing Contracting States on a regular basis to determine the States’ capability for safety oversight. As the meteorological authority of Hong Kong and the organization to provide meteorological services and facilities, the Observatory is the responsible party for the audit on the meteorological service for international air navigation in Hong Kong.

MARINE METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

Weather forecasts and warnings are issued routinely by the Observatory for 10 shipping areas in the South China Sea and 7 fishing areas along the south China coast.

Staff of the Observatory visit Voluntary Observing Ships calling at Hong Kong and provide them with meteorological equipment and publications on the making of weather observations at sea. The Observatory managed a fleet of 41 voluntary observing ships at the end of 2008 - 2009.

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D.R. Llewellyn (right), captain of the Hong Kong Voluntary Observing Ship “OOCL Hamburg”, receiving a certificate from Mr. Wong Chi-fai of the Observatory (left)

RADIATION MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT

The Observatory operates the Environmental Radiation Monitoring Programme in Hong Kong.

In 2008, measurements results indicated no measurable increase in the ambient radiation levels, artificial radioactivity in the local environment and foodstuff consumed in Hong Kong, as compared with the respective levels before the operation of the nuclear power stations at Daya Bay and Ling Ao, Guangdong.

The Observatory also renovated the exhibits on environmental radiation in the Exhibition Hall at the Observatory Headquarters. Apart from updating of the existing exhibits, new exhibits on non-ionizing radiation, health effects of radiation and the latest applications of radiation were added.

Students visiting the renovated environmental radiation exhibition at the Observatory Headquarters

TIME STANDARD AND GEOPHYSICAL SERVICES

The Observatory maintains the Hong Kong Time Standard. Time checking services for the public are provided through the Internet, the Dial-a-Weather system and local radio stations. In 2008-2009, the Internet time checking service registered over 599 million hits, an increase of around 18% compared with the previous year.

The Observatory monitors local and distant earthquakes round-the-clock using its seismograph network. The Observatory also monitors long term crustal movement using two continuous GPS stations.

In October 2008, the Observatory working together with 15 other government bureaux/departments, participated in the 2008 Pacific-wide tsunami exercise organized by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. A total of 34 countries around the Pacific Rim took part in the exercise. Both the notification mechanism of the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System and Hong Kong's tsunami warning arrangement under the Contingency Plan on Natural Disasters were tested and proved to be effective.

Observatory’s staff conducting the tsunami exercise

CLIMATE SERVICES AND STUDIES

In 2008-2009, the Observatory entertained 925 written requests for meteorological and climatological data, generating a revenue of around $175,000.

In March 2009, the Observatory issued an outlook for the annual rainfall in Hong Kong and the number of tropical cyclones likely to affect Hong Kong in 2009. In formulating the annual rainfall forecast, a new approach making use of a dynamical climate model instead of the traditional statistical approach was adopted. In

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forecasting tropical cyclone activities, a new method based on a statistical model and incorporating sea surface temperature was used to forecast the number of tropical cyclones affecting Hong Kong during the year.

In promoting public education on climate change, the "Climate is changing, act now!" exhibition was jointly organised by the Observatory, the Guangdong Meteorological Bureau, the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd in December 2008. It was the first time that meteorological services in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have jointly staged an exhibition. The exhibition was also held at Guangdong and Macao in 2009, signifying a milestone in the co-operation of the three meteorological services.

Prior to the exhibition, the Observatory also jointly organised the “Workshop on Climate Change and Climate Prediction in the Pearl River Delta Region” with the Guangdong Meteorological Bureau and the Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau, the first of its kind in the region. The workshop attracted some 120 participants from non-governmental organizations, local universities, the business sector and various bureaux and departments of the Hong Kong government. Feedback to the workshop was positive and encouraging.

Guests much attracted to the content of the "Climate is changing, act now!" exhibition

More than 100 teams participated in the "Climate Change - What can we do?" Student Project Competition, organised as a "Science in the Public Service" campaign.

A voluntary outreach team of climate change speakers was in operation since September 2007. These Observatory staff gave over 70 talks at the enthusiastic invitation of schools, professional bodies and green groups in 2008 - 2009. The Observatory also participated in campaigns organized by green groups to promote actions against climate change.

The Observatory collaborated with the RoadShow Media Limited to produce the documentary “Salvage the Earth, Keep It Below 16°C” for showing on buses to promote understanding on climate change. Public showing of the programme started on the World Meteorological Day on 23 March 2009.

The Observatory updated its projections for temperatures in Hong Kong in the 21st century, in the light of the revised global projections in the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Observatory also updated its projections for the rainfall in Hong Kong in the 21st century. This is a follow-up to the initial studies carried out in 2004 and 2005 respectively, based on the projections presented in the Third Assessment Report of IPCC.

Past and Projected change of annual rainfall in Hong Kong

TRAINING

In 2008-2009, a total of 24 Observatory staff were sent to institutions in mainland China and overseas for professional training.

The Observatory actively contributes to the advancement of meteorology worldwide by offering training courses to meteorological personnel from members of the WMO. Eight meteorologists, from Bangladesh, Mainland China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Oman, Vietnam and Yemen, attended a training course on city weather forecasts organised by the Observatory in December 2008. The course aimed to enhance the capability of trainees in formulating weather forecasts through the use of city-specific numerical weather prediction products.

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Participants taking part in the training course on city weather forecasts at the Hong Kong Observatory

To meet the demands of weather enthusiasts in Hong Kong, the Observatory offered a course on weather observation to members of the public. A total of 70 people attended the course. It also conducted an "Interpretation of Radar and Satellite Images" training course in February and early March 2009. A total of 45 participants attended.

Four students from local universities joined the Co-operative Education Scheme and Industrial Attachment Scheme in 2008. They were attached to the Observatory to carry out research projects on lightning, nowcasting and meteorological data analysis.

To promote popular science, the Observatory continues to develop educational materials on meteorology, radiation and geophysics on its “Educational Resources” webpage. Dispatched in the form of “e-bulletin” to students, teachers and interested readers, they are very well received.

OUTREACH AND PUBLICITY ACTIVITIES

The Observatory also organizes outreach activities for members of the public. In particular, the Open Day in March 2009 attracted more than 10,000 visitors of all ages.

An Observatory staff explaining the operation of instruments to visitors during the Open Day

Mr. Lam Chiu-ying (middle), Director of the Hong Kong Observatory with visitors at the 'Weathering the Storms' essay collection autographing session

In 2008-2009, the Observatory Headquarters received over 5,500 members of the public in groups during weekdays. Observatory staff gave 95 talks on weather observation, forecasting and warnings to various organizations, secondary and primary schools as well as universities.

The membership of the “Friends of the Observatory” (FoOb) continued to grow. By the end of March 2009, FoOb membership exceeded 9,200. In addition to helping the Observatory in the annual Open Day and other exhibitions, volunteers of FoOb continued to help organize various activities including the guided tours of the Observatory for over 1,800 members of the public during weekends in 2008-2009. Around 30 new voluntary docents of guided tours were recruited in August 2008.

A senior docent, Roger Kwan (middle) explaining the ecology of the mini-forest inside the Hong Kong Observatory Headquarters

The Observatory joined hands with the Civil Aid Service and 13 other government departments and NGOs to hold the "Mountaineering Safety Promotion Day" in October 2008. The Observatory set up a booth to

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introduce weather related to mountaineering and hiking, and gave three talks on the subject.

Since the establishment of the "Community Weather Information Network (Co-WIN)" in August 2007, more automatic weather stations have been added to the network. At the end of 2008-2009, there were altogether 55 members in Co-WIN and more than 20 members provide real-time weather information at Co-WIN website. The Co-WIN was jointly developed by the Observatory, the Department of Applied Physics of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong Joint-school Meteorological Association.

Weather reports in the Co-WIN website

The Observatory participated in the "Science in Public Service" (SIPS) Fun Fair in November 2008. The fun fair was jointly organised by more than 30 government bureaux, departments and collaborating organizations and was the largest SIPS event since its launch two years ago.

The Chief Executive, Mr. Donald Tsang visited the Innovation and Technology Commission pavilion

Over 55 episodes of the Commercial Radio program co-hosted by Observatory staff were

produced in 2008-2009. The Observatory also participated in the production of two episodes of the RTHK TV series , which introduced the Observaory’s application of advanced technology in monitoring lightning and heat stress for the Olympic Equestrian Events.

REGIONAL COOPERATION

The Observatory participated in the 14th Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macau annual cooperation meeting and the 23rd Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macau Seminar on Meteorological Science and Technology in February 2009. The meeting established the direction for future development achieving synergy through the cooperation and experience. Techniques on monitoring and forecasting tropical cyclones, severe weather and extreme temperatures were exchanged in the seminar.

Mr. Lam Chiu-ying, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory (first left) speaking in the 14th Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macau annual cooperation meeting

The Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, Mr. Lam Chiu-ying and Assistant Director Mr. Wai Hon-gor visited the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) in December 2008 to discuss the direction for future cooperation. Mr. Lam and Assistant Director, Mr. Shun Chi-ming visited the Air Traffic Management Bureau (ATMB) of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in Beijing in March 2009 to review the cooperation between the two aviation meteorological services over the past two years and discussed the direction for future cooperation. Mr. Shun also visited CMA to discuss aviation meteorological cooperation.

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Mr. Shun Chi-ming (middle), Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, visiting the China Meteorological Administration

Six delegates from the National Meteorological Centre of CMA visited the Observatory in March 2009 to exchange knowledge and experience in weather forecasting and warning services, marine weather forecasting, applied meteorology and training of forecasters.

Professor Ding Yihui, scientific advisor of the Observatory, visited Hong Kong in February 2009 and delivered a series of six enlightening lectures on climate change and seasonal forecasting. On another front, Observatory’s experts delivered a lecture in the "Seminar on low-level windshear alerting technology" organised by the Meteorological Division of the ATMB, CAAC at Shenzhen in October 2008.

In 2008-2009, the Observatory provided an attachment programme for staff of Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau on weather forecasting.

The meteorological telecommunication circuit connecting the Observatory (via Guangzhou) and the CMA was upgraded in May 2008. Besides being able to handle a greater volume of data exchange, the new circuit also supports video conferencing. In addition, the Hong Kong - Tokyo meteorological telecommunications circuit, one of the main trunks connecting the Observatory to the WMO's Global Telecommunication Network, was upgraded in February 2009.

The National Marine Environment Forecast Center of the State Oceanic Administration and the Observatory jointly held a technical seminar on marine hazards forecasting in December 2008 in Beijing. The seminar strengthened the ties between the two organizations and facilitated the advancement of forecasting techniques.

Experts of the Hong Kong Observatory (left) and the Guangdong Meteorological Bureau (right) conducting video conferencing over the meteorological telecom circuit

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Eighteen staff members of the Observatory served as experts in various capacities in international organizations, such as WMO and ICAO in 2008-2009. They took up 14 posts at the level of Chairman, Vice-Chairman, or Project Leaders in areas ranging from public weather services, disaster prevention to aviation meteorology and coordination of world weather websites.

Dr Lee Boon-ying, Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, visited the WMO in September 2008 and worked as a consultant in the preparation of a draft Strategic Plan for the Regional Association II (Asia) for the next few years. The task was to align the Plan with the results-based management strategies recently promulgated by WMO. The Regional Association (RA) II was the first among all WMO's six RAs in respect of the above task.

Dr Lee Boon-ying (right) of the Hong Kong Observatory pictured with Dr T. Toya (left), Regional Director for Asia and the South-west Pacific, WMO, at the WMO Headquarters

Dr Dmitry A Storchak, Director of International Seismological Centre, visited the Observatory in

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October 2008 and briefed the Observatory on the work of the International Seismological Centre. Mr. M.K. Bhatnagar, Director of Aviation Services of the India Meteorological Department, visited the Observatory in November 2008 to learn about the provision of aviation weather services.

At the invitation of the WMO, Ms. Sandy Song, Senior Scientific Officer of the Observatory, delivered a series of lectures at two training workshops in Brazil and South Africa in September and November 2008. Fifty three meteorologists from 21 South American and African countries attended the workshops. The Observatory also participated in the Fourth WMO International Workshop on Monsoons, organized by the WMO and co-sponsored by CMA in Beijing in October 2008.

In 2008-2009, the Observatory offered an attachment programme for the Thai Meteorological Department, the Malaysian Meteorological Department and the National Hydro-Meteorological Service of Viet Nam on marine meteorological services, aviation meteorology, typhoon and severe weather forecasts respectively.

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Typhoon Committee of the United Nations, a song composition contest was organized. The panel of judges selected the song "Typhoon! Typhoon!" as the Committee Song. The lyrics of "Typhoon! Typhoon!" was the work of Mr Lam Chiu-ying, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, and the score was that of Mr Lam Fung, a Hong Kong composer.

OUTLOOK FOR 2009-2010

In 2009-2010, the Observatory will install a high performance computing system and implement a suite of high-resolution models for weather prediction. With the experience gained in the 2008 Olympics, the Observatory will develop new nowcasting products for weather forecasters with a view to improving its weather service for the public.

The Observatory will provide weather services to support the 2009 East Asian Games hosted by Hong Kong. The Observatory will maintain close communication with the organizers and supply meteorological services covering the various game venues, including Tai Tam Bay for the wind surfers.

To further improve the disseminating of

information on storm surge during tropical cyclones, the Observatory will start sending Short Message Service to representatives of Tai O residents and relevant government departments during the tropical cyclone season in 2009, to alert them of storm surges whenever necessary.

The Observatory will continue to enrich the contents of its website in response to the evolving needs of the public and further develop the delivery of weather services through the Internet. The Observatory will also strengthen its services by making use of WIFI technology to provide weather information.

The Observatory will launch new cartoon animations for television weather programmes. The Observatory’s Corporate Youtube website will also be launched to enhance delivery of weather messages to the public.

A major breakthrough in the Community Weather Information Network can be expected with the delivery of information on ultraviolet indices in several areas in Hong Kong.

The Observatory will undertake preparatory work for replacing and upgrading its meteorological facilities in support of aviation weather services.

The Observatory will install a broadband seismograph to improve the capability of determining the local and regional earthquakes for tsunami forecasting.

The Observatory will continue to promote public awareness of, and preparedness for, natural disasters through various outreach activities and continuous development of educational resources. Weather courses, seminars and lectures will continue to be held for the public, school children and other sectors of the community.

The Observatory will continue to study as well as to promote public understanding of climate change in Hong Kong. In particular, a pamphlet on climate change will be published. Studies on the effect of weather on human health will be continued.

© Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government 2010 ©Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government 2010