China will launch a nationwide monitoring and forecast system for sandstorms, starting with a trial operation in March, in a bid to provide more accurate information about possible sandstorms.
Sources in this capital of northwest China's Gansu Province said that the system can synchronously trace the development of sandstorms, which will make possible the regular forecasting of sandstorms.
The system will use satellites, radar, sounding balloons and other meteorological technologies to form a real-time network expected to identify the areas sandstorms will sweep, said Li Huang, deputy director of the China Meteorological Administration.
As sandstorms usually originate in remote areas, meteorologists meet difficulties in collecting detailed information with routine meteorological technologies, though the country has succeeded in predicting sandstorms within 48 hours, he added.
(People's Daily 02/27/2001)
