Meteorological monitoring to be enhanced

Editor’s note: China plans to develop a national comprehensive meteorological observation system during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period. Fang Xiang, director of the China Meteorological Administration’s integrated observation department, spoke to Xinhua News Agency about the plan’s institutional innovations and practical implementation. The views don’t necessarily represent those of China Daily.

The new plan lays out a systematic approach to building a robust, intelligent, precise and cross-sector framework to coordinate the monitoring of land, sea, air and space assets. It provides clear guidelines to strengthen disaster prevention and mitigation, while supporting socioeconomic development.

By 2030, China aims to achieve better coordination in meteorological observation across all sectors, with significant advancements in monitoring infrastructure. The plan anticipates that approximately 85 percent of meteorological disasters will be predicted in advance, with improved accuracy in detecting strong convective weather. The lead time for localized severe weather warnings is expected to exceed 50 minutes. Improved data quality, efficient equipment maintenance and stringent quality control can contribute to a forecasted data accuracy rate of 98 percent.

A notable feature of the plan is the “five-unified” mechanism jointly proposed by 14 ministries and four major State-owned enterprises. The mechanism aims to enhance coordination through unified planning, technical standards, data submission, operational specifications and resource sharing. It will address challenges such as fragmented infrastructure, inconsistent standards and insufficient data sharing among observation facilities across various departments and fields.

The plan aims to upgrade the national comprehensive meteorological observation network by enhancing radar and ground-based monitoring facilities in regions prone to torrential rain, flash floods and severe convective weather. It also seeks to enhance vertical atmospheric monitoring capabilities. The upgrading of national climate observatories and atmospheric baseline stations, and the bolstering of multi-sphere monitoring in key ecological zones such as the Qilian Mountains-Hexi Corridor, Northeast China’s forest belts, and northern sand-control belts will strengthen the foundation for climate change monitoring.

In specialized areas, meteorological observation will cater to industry and public needs by addressing gaps in agricultural, transportation and inland waterway meteorological data. Additionally, it will establish a low-altitude observation network providing services for the low-altitude economy.

The development of the observation system will help ensure effective data utilization and timely service delivery, enhancing both coordinated and emergency observation capabilities. By leveraging diverse assets such as satellites, radar, unmanned aerial vehicles, ground weather stations and industry monitoring sites, the system will improve coordinated observation of phenomena such as typhoons and convective weather events.

Enhancements in data collection, transmission and processing capabilities will enable smart transformation of observation, ensuring efficient coordination throughout data collection, transmission, quality control and storage. This will ensure data are immediately usable and help provide timely frontline services.

Incorporating high-quality basic observation products, developing new networking products from multiband weather radars and vertical observation systems, and integrating multisource observations such as wind fields, water vapor and precipitation can build real-time services tailored to different application scenarios and enable the rapid delivery of real-time products to end users. These scenarios include disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, as well as specialized meteorological services.

Looking ahead, relevant authorities across sectors are to coordinate task implementation to ensure tangible results, continuously enhancing capabilities in precise monitoring, accurate forecasting and refined services.