Popular Science Lecture on Windshear

Windshear is a well-known phenomenon which occurs from time to time at the airports. At the Hong Kong International Airport, on average, about 1 in every 500 flights flying in and out of it reported encountering significant windshear. For the first time the Hong Kong Observatory organized a popular science lecture on the topic for members of the general public in May 2005. The lecture aroused the public's interests in understanding more about windshear in Hong Kong, the weather conditions bringing windshear and its impact on airport operation and air safety. More than 60 people attended the lecture.

The Observatory is operating a windshear and turbulence alerting service for the Hong Kong International Airport. Through continuous research and collaboration with users over the years, the rate of successful detection of windshear events has been progressing steadily, reaching 95% in the past year.

Mr. S.T. Chan of the Observatory answering questions from the floor during the lecture