BEIJING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- China's surface meteorological observations have been fully automated since April, making the manual periodic observation a thing of the past.

According to a statement issued by the China Meteorological Administration, all surface weather stations nationwide should cancel regular manual observation tasks, daily shifts but retain manual observation for emergencies.

Using unmanned operations to replace manual work will not only reduce the workload but also enhance the country's weather observing capability. The automatic observation frequency will be four to eight times higher than that of manual observation, and the amount of data will be increased by about 10 times, which can rectify China's weather data shortage, said a source of the administration.

The automatic observation also enables data to be transmitted faster and more efficiently than before, which will provide more accurate and timely meteorological services for the public, the administration said.