On March 23, coinciding with the 64th World Meteorological Day, the China Meteorological Administration announced the "Top Ten Developments in Meteorological High-Quality Development for 2023."
Development 1: Implementation of the "Outline for High-Quality Development of Meteorology (2022-2035)" has made significant progress, with a 4.8% increase in the level of meteorological development compared to the previous year. In 2023, the national level of meteorological high-quality development reached 80.3 points. Basic capabilities such as meteorological satellites, radar, numerical forecasting models, and the new generation of meteorological supercomputers have seen new improvements. The vitality of meteorological scientific and technological innovation has further enhanced, and the capabilities and service levels of meteorological monitoring and forecasting have significantly improved. According to statistics, meteorological information has saved the public losses amounting to 560 billion CNY.
Development 2: Successfully launched two Fengyun meteorological satellites, enhancing China's meteorological satellite monitoring system. The Fengyun-3 meteorological satellite (G star), launched in April 2023, is China's first precipitation measurement satellite, filling the gap in China's monitoring of the three-dimensional structure of precipitation in the global middle and low latitudes. The Fengyun-3 meteorological satellite (F star), launched in August 2023, provides satellite monitoring data for local areas worldwide at 10 a.m. China has achieved a network of four orbits: morning, afternoon, dawn, and inclined, with a total of nine meteorological satellites (four geostationary and five polar orbiting) in operation, continuously enhancing global meteorological satellite monitoring capabilities.
Development 3: The accuracy and refinement of global/regional numerical weather forecasting capabilities have significantly improved, with the number of forecastable days in the Northern Hemisphere stabilizing at over 8 days for the first time. China's independently controllable global weather numerical forecasting system 4.0 (CMA-GFS 4.0) is operating well, with global spatial resolution increased from 25 kilometers to 12.5 kilometers. The regional weather numerical forecasting model (CMA-MESO) has achieved hourly updates with a resolution of 1 kilometer, effectively supporting meteorological security services for major catastrophic weather events and activities.
Development 4: The construction of a new generation of meteorological supercomputing systems has significantly enhanced comprehensive computing power, with a total computing power exceeding 60 PFLOPS. Additional supercomputing power of 52 PFLOPS (5.2 billion billion floating-point operations per second) and intelligent computing power of 3.6 PFLOPS have been added, providing computing support for key core technologies such as independently developed Earth system numerical forecasting models and meteorological large-scale models.
Development 5: The global intelligent digital forecasting product system has expanded to refined and three-dimensional space, with an average increase in forecast accuracy of 4.6%. A sound grid forecasting product system has been established for global 10 kilometers, China regional 5 kilometers, and key areas 1 kilometer. Fourteen new forecast products including fog and sandstorms have been added and expanded into three-dimensional space. The average forecast error of typhoon 24-hour average path forecast affecting China has been reduced to 62 kilometers, reaching a historical high in accuracy.
Development 6: 150 weather radars have been added or upgraded, enhancing the monitoring and early warning capabilities for severe convective weather such as hail. The national coverage rate of weather radar detection has increased by 5.5%. The business software and product performance of weather radars have been further optimized and improved. The capability for monitoring and warning of meteorological disasters has continued to improve, with the average lead time for severe convective weather warnings increasing by 43 minutes.
Development 7: Meteorological service capabilities continue to improve, with a public satisfaction rate of 92.4% for meteorological services in 2023. The "China Weather" website (www.weather.com.cn) has seen a 35% increase in cumulative page views compared to 2022, reaching 39.7 billion views. The National Early Warning Information Release Center issued 420,000 early warning messages throughout the year, covering 98.8% of the public. Collaborative efforts between meteorology and public security and transportation departments have optimized and upgraded 218 high-impact road sections affected by severe weather. According to statistics, the optimized road sections have seen a decrease of about 50% in traffic accidents caused by severe weather, with comprehensive benefits reaching 4.3 billion CNY.
Development 8: Positive results have been achieved in the construction of meteorological science and technology innovation platforms, significantly stimulating innovation vitality. A total of 58 units including meteorological research institutes, universities, and scientific research institutions have jointly established the National Meteorological Science and Education Integration Innovation Alliance. Collaborative efforts with local governments have established major innovation platforms in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, aerial cloud and water resource development, and marine meteorology, further improving the meteorological innovation system. The number of meteorological researchers and investment in meteorological research funding have continued to grow, with the global carbon source and sink monitoring and calibration technology reaching international advanced levels, winning 49 provincial and ministerial-level science and technology awards.
Development 9: The area affected by artificial weather modification operations covers approximately 5.05 million square kilometers, with an increase in precipitation of about 34.3 billion cubic meters from artificial rainfall operations. 1600 sets of ground operation equipment have been newly built or renovated, and five aircraft for artificial rain enhancement have been upgraded or renovated. In 2023, a total of 51,000 ground-based artificial weather modification operations and 1,391 aircraft-based artificial rainfall (snowfall) operations were conducted. Significant benefits have been achieved in artificial hail suppression, artificial rainfall for drought resistance, forest fire prevention, improvement of the ecological environment, and ensuring food security.
Development 10: The application of meteorological sounding systems based on Beidou satellite navigation has significantly improved the capability for atmospheric vertical observation. The high-precision humidity chips in the sounding system have achieved independent controllability. Forty-nine sets of ground-based remote sensing observation systems have been added, forming continuous 24-hour vertical atmospheric profile observation capabilities for temperature, humidity, wind, aerosols, etc. The accuracy and intelligence of high-altitude meteorological detection have significantly improved.
