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China to Put 10 Meteorological Satellites into Orbit in Decade
China plans to develop and project ten advanced meteorological satellites into orbit in the coming decade to improve the accuracy of its weather and natural disaster forecasts, an official said in Beijig Thursday.
Yan Hong, deputy director of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), told Xinhua the Chinese Government has approved a plan by the administration to develop and launch the satellites at a cost of several billion yuan (US$ 700 million).
The satellites, together with the five meteorological satellites still orbiting the earth, will help China form a complete meteorological satellite system in the near future, the deputy director said.
The system will have significant impact on the development of China's national economy, national defense, disaster prevention and reduction as well as the everyday life of the general public, he added.
It will facilitate the modernization of the meteorological industry, increase the capability for long and medium-term weather forecasts, and help monitor the ecological conditions in the western part of China, an ecologically fragile area facing massive development in the coming century, he said.
Dong Chaohua, director of the National Satellite Meteorological Center under CMA, said that of the ten satellites, the planned Fengyun-3 polar orbit satellite will be used for global numerical weather prediction, climate forecasts, and natural disaster and ecological environment monitoring.
China has sent five weather satellites, all belonging to the Fengyun series, into orbit since 1988, and became the third country in the world to design and launch both solar and earth synchronous orbit meteorological satellites after the United States and Russia.
The Fengyun series meteorological satellites, designed by Chinese experts, shot precise images of various weather conditions including rainstorm and typhoons, and reflected the images of landform, sea, vegetation, floods and snowstorms.
The satellites have helped to monitor flooding along China's large rivers including the Yangtze River and forest fires, predict agricultural production, and search for fishing grounds in the past decade.
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