HKO officer elected Vice-president of Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology of WMO

Senior Scientific Officer of the Hong Kong Observatory, Mr Shun Chi-ming, has been elected the Vice-president of the Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) at the 13th session of the Commission held in Geneva, Switzerland. This is the first time that a Hong Kong Observatory officer has taken up such a senior position in a technical commission of WMO.

The Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology, one of the eight technical commissions in WMO, is responsible for co-ordinating international meteorological activities to meet the requirements of aviation for safe, economic and efficient air navigation.

As vice-president Mr Shun will support the newly elected President, Mr Carr McLeod, of Canada, to lead the expert teams established by the commission to embark on various tasks related to education and training in aeronautical meteorology, development of a new terminal weather forecast, and customer relations.

The session, from November 23 to December 1, was attended by representatives from 72 countries/territories. Mr Shun's successful election reflected the recognition by the international community of the Observatory's contributions to aeronautical meteorology. Many representatives expressed appreciation to the Hong Kong Observatory for its contributions to international aeronautical meteorology.

The Deputy Administrator of the Chinese Meteorological Administration, principal delegate of China attending the session, Mr Xu Xiaofeng, regarded the Observatory highly in leading the world in applying science and technology to aviation weather services. A representative from Ethiopia said, "We fully appreciate the work of the Hong Kong Observatory in assisting developing countries, especially in providing training seminars and expert advice in the past years to build up our capabilities in the provision of weather services." At the session, other representatives also expressed appreciation of the Observatory's work on wind shear and turbulence, especially its joint efforts with user organisations to produce educational material for pilots.

Mr Shun joined the Observatory in 1986. He has worked in weather forecasting, radiation monitoring and numerical weather prediction. Since 1993, he has specialised in aeronautical meteorology. He was responsible for installing the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar for wind shear detection at the Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok. He also set up the world's first Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) wind shear alerting system in 2005. Mr Shun's contributions to international aviation meteorology began in 1997 through active participation in the work of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and WMO. Since 2003, he has been the vice-chairman of the ICAO communication, navigation, surveillance and meteorology sub-group in the Asia and Pacific Region.

Fig 1. Mr SHUN Chi-ming (right) standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the newly elected President of the Commission, Mr Carr McLeod (middle) and the ex-President, Dr Neil Gordon (left).

Fig 2. Mr SHUN Chi-ming (third from the right) pictured here with delegates of the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao, the ex-President and the newly elected President.