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Experiment Helps Track Monsoon
More than 140 Chinese and foreign experts are attending the ongoing three-day Scientific Conference on the South China Sea Monsoon (SCSM) Experiment, which opened in Shanghai yesterday, to discuss and exchange research results.
"Deep and comprehensive understanding of the movement of the SCSM is critical to understanding global weather features,'' said Yan Hong, deputy director of the China Meteorological Administration.
That is why the experiment has drawn experts not only from Asian counties and regions, such as Singapore and India, but also from the United States and Australia.
"The experiment and the conference today are exciting and enlightening ways to better understand the SCSM and its relationship with other physical phenomena,'' said Richard H. Johnson, an atmospheric expert from Colorado State University.
"The confirmed research results will improve short-term forecasting accuracy, which could minimize possible losses and bring about economic benefits,'' said Jough-Tai Wang, a professor from Taiwan.
He went on to say that as 60 per cent of the global population lives under the coverage of monsoons, which affect local agriculture and water resources, to master their laws is very important.
The SCSM breaks out over the sea around mid-May every year, then moves northward and brings rains to most of the eastern part of China, Wang said.
"The early or late arrival of the SCSM leads directly to disastrous weather such as drought, floods and typhoons,'' said Huang Ronghui, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
As the experiment's leading organizer, since its establishment in 1993, the China Meteorological Administration and experts from Taiwan Province have jointly started writing up the results of the experiment, which was conducted between May 1 and August 31 in 1998 and involved weather service activities and oceanographic bodies from different nations and regions.
During the Intensive Observation Period between May 5 and June 25, 1998, scientists on both sides of the Taiwan Straits launched six marine investigation boats, Doppler radars and pilotless aircraft.
"We have recently submitted to the Ministry of Science and Technology a proposal for a further experiment on the Southeast Asia Monsoon,'' said Qin Dahe, minister of China Meteorological Administration.
"If approved, we will have another challenging but significant task which again will welcome international co-operation.''
Source: China Daily
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