Weather experts gathered in Hong Kong for international nowcasting symposium

25 July 2016

More than 150 weather experts from over 20 countries and regions attended the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) World Weather Research Programme 4th International Symposium on Nowcasting and Very-short-range Forecast 2016 (WSN16) at the Yasumoto International Academic Park of the Chinese University of Hong Kong today (July 25). This is the first time that the symposium is being held in Asia.

Nowcasting and mesoscale numerical modelling are currently among the most active research areas in meteorology with an objective of predicting high impact weather a few hours in advance. This year's symposium carried a special theme on aviation nowcasting, with air traffic management and airlines representatives invited to participate. In his opening address, the Director of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) and the President of the Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology, Mr Shun Chi-ming, stressed that, "This is an emerging subject which requires significant efforts in advancing the nowcasting and modelling technologies so as to meet the needs of the next generation global aviation in the next 15 years and beyond."

Mr Shun was also delighted with the participation of air traffic management and airlines representatives in the symposium to share their expectations on the research from end-users' perspective, so as to enhance the applicability of nowcasting research.

The symposium is jointly hosted by the HKO, the Hong Kong Meteorological Society, and the Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and will last for five days till this Friday (July 29).

For further information, please visit the website https://wsn16.hk/