| Qin Dahe, director of the China Meteorological Administration ( CMA) and leader of the project, said at a press conference here Wednesday that the project is under the "Research on the Formation Mechanism and the Prediction Theory of Hazardous Weather over China", one of the country's Key Projects of National Fundamental Research Planning sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
China has a lot of meteorological disasters, Qin said, adding, the heavy rain resulting in flooding during summer is an obvious example.
Governmental statistics indicate that over the past ten years in the mainland of China the grain loss caused by flooding disasters reached up to 20 billion kilograms annually, and the economic loss accounted for three to six percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
China's forecasts of precipitation caused by mesoscale convective systems still contain errors, according to experts.
The regular meteorological observation network does not provide accurate and sufficient data in the sector, Qin said, adding that to solve the problem, the CMA will make use of a wide variety of routine and special observing systems to augment the existing operational network.
Ni Yunqi, chief scientist of the project executing group, said that the field experiment project will use abundant advanced meteorological methods and equipment including satellites, Doppler radar stations, sidetrack receivers, wind profilers, boundary observation sites and unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing systems.
Through the experiments and research, the mechanisms that initiate and maintain mesoscale heavy rain in China will be further understood, Ni said.
At the same time, the project will help establish a set of theories and techniques for developing numerical models capable of simulating and predicting the formation and development of severe rain systems in China.
The group for the scientific project comprises of nearly 100 leading scientists in the field of heavy rain research with a dozen research institutes and prestigious universities across China including CMA, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing University.
Also involved in the project are 14 aerological observing stations and more than 100 surface stations in the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the Shanghai Municipality in the river's middle and lower reaches.
In addition, experts from Japan's weather research institute and a number of Japanese universities will carry out cooperation programs with Chinese scientists.
(Xinhua News Agency 06/21/2001)
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