CASIC Completes China's First Lighthouse Meteorological Observation Station

Construction of the Jiujiejiao meteorological observation station at Xiamen Port in Southeast China's Fujian province was completed on June 11.

Contracted by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited (CASIC), Jiujiejiao is an island station specially built for local meteorological data observation. It's also China's first automated meteorological observation facility built on a lighthouse for shipments along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

As the world's 14th-largest container port, Xiamen Port handles thousands of ships annually. However, there are many foggy and windy days between February and April each year, and therefore meteorological observations are urgently needed.

Li Changhua, deputy director of the Xiamen Meteorological Bureau, explained that the waterway from Jiujiejiao to the harbor is so narrow that it makes it impossible for large vessels to turn around once they enter the section. The meteorological monitoring devices installed on the lighthouse will play a crucial role in providing weather conditions to crews before they encounter those difficult circumstances.

A subsidiary of CASIC signed an agreement with the Xiamen Meteorological Bureau on developing a meteorological observation station in Xiamen Port and offering related support services in 2020.

The agreement bolsters the Maritime Silk Road shipment proposal by the Fujian government to build a service platform for international trade based on the Belt and Road Initiative.

The station is capable of real-time monitoring of wind direction, air velocity, temperature, humidity, pressure, precipitation and visibility on a 24/7 basis and in a high temperature, high salt mist and strong wind environment.

The data is updated every 10 minutes and special hydrologic information like temperature of the water surface, salinity and tide height can be collected as needed.

The station will play a role in helping crews and relevant staff members of the port obtain changes in weather and in offering meteorological information for early warning, maritime arrangements and freight transport.

It is estimated that the precise and highly-efficient data will effectively increase navigation efficiency of the port in foggy days by about 10 percent and will play a part in vessel safety.

In recent years, CASIC has made efforts to support the national major development strategies by offering meteorological services to agricultural development to help win the battle against poverty and constructing the Leishenshan and Huoshenshan makeshift hospitals in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. It has even assisted in measuring the height of Mount Qomolangma.

A view of the Jiujiejiao meteorological observation station in Xiamen Port [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

The meteorological monitoring devices installed on the lighthouse play a crucial role in providing weather conditions. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)