China launches website on summer flood data

BEIJING -- A dedicated website containing data on summer flood disasters in China has been launched, the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced Tuesday.

The website www.chinageoss.cn/cddr, jointly developed by the National Earth Observation Data Center (NODA) and China GEOSS Data Sharing Network, is designed to provide scientific data support to local governments, disaster alleviation organizations and research institutes.

The website has obtained 64 basic geographic datasets covering Poyang Lake, Taihu Lake and Chaohu Lake in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which encountered floods this summer.

Nine high-resolution satellites provide remote sensing datasets before and after the floods for the website.

As of Monday, the website has been visited by 2,588 professional users, including 151 research groups with real-name registration. The data available on the web portal will help support 22 research projects.