China plans to invest 600 million yuan (US$72 million) for the
installation of 30 new-generation Doppler weather radars in
2005.
In the upcoming three years, 84 such radars will be installed,
forming a nationwide climate monitoring network with 158
Dopplers.
By 2008, the network will play a leading role in forecasting
imminent meteorological disasters and the density of radars is
second only to that of the United States, Zhang Guocai, director of
the Forecast and Disaster Control Department of the China
Meteorological Bureau (CMB), told Xinhua.
In 2004 alone, natural disasters brought 89.48 billion yuan
(US$10.8 billion) of direct economic loss on China's agriculture,
with 27.5 million hectares of crops affected, the CMB figures
show.
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The existing 74 Doppler radars in China led to timely and accurate
forecasts of two typhoons in the summer of 2004, said Zhang, which
enables nearly 1 million people to evacuate in advance.?
(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2005)