Weather stations earn 75-year badges

Eight weather stations in China have been recognized among the World Meteorological Organization's first batch of 75-year-old meteorological stations, the China Meteorological Administration has announced.

The eight stations are the Nenjiang National Baseline Meteorological Station in Heilongjiang province; the Fuzhou National Baseline Climatic Station in Fujian province; the Shapingba National Baseline Meteorological Station in Chongqing; the Emei Mountain National Baseline Climatic Station in Sichuan province; the Xingren National Baseline Climatic Station in Guizhou province; the Hami National Baseline Climatic Station in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region; and the Zhangye National Climatic Observatory and Kongtong National Baseline Meteorological Station, both in Gansu province.

All met the WMO's selection criteria, which included proof of an operational period of over 75 years with missing data not exceeding 10 percent (excluding impacts from wars and disasters), Wang Jiankai, deputy director of the department of comprehensive observation of the CMA, said at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.

The Emei Mountain station, established in July 1932, is the oldest among the stations recognized in China. It is also one of the stations participating in the WMO meteorological data exchange, Wang said.

According to Wang, the mechanism for the recognition of the WMO's 75-year-old meteorological stations was first proposed by the CMA and was approved at the 19th World Meteorological Congress last year.

"The mechanism aims to protect more historically significant meteorological stations worldwide. It will also serve as an example for subsequent selection standards, technical reviews and optimizations of global meteorological stations of this caliber," he said.

Besides the eight 75-year-old meteorological stations, China has 18 centennial meteorological stations certified by the WMO.

lipeixuan@chinadaily.com.cn