On the afternoon of February 13th, the Key Open Laboratory of Tornado of China Meteorological Bureau (hereinafter referred to as "the laboratory") was started and the first academic committee meeting was held in Foshan. Based on the original scientific and technological innovation platform of Foshan Tornado Research Center and relying on Guangdong Meteorological Bureau and Peking University, the laboratory was approved to be established in November 2022, which will continue to promote the scientific understanding, monitoring and early warning capabilities of tornadoes in China.
Tornado is a destructive weather phenomenon, which is small in scale, sudden and difficult to monitor, and has always been the difficulty of meteorological disaster prevention and reduction. At present, the basic scientific research and forecasting and early warning technology of tornadoes in China are in the initial stage. With the achievements of meteorological modernization in China, China Meteorological Bureau approved Guangdong Meteorological Bureau to carry out the modernization demonstration construction of X-band dual-polarization phased array weather radar, which ushered in a new opportunity for tornado monitoring and early warning research.
According to reports, the research in the laboratory is oriented to applied basic research, and the research field focuses on the formation mechanism, monitoring, early warning and forecasting technology of tornadoes and their parent supercells. It is estimated that through the five-year construction of key laboratories, the database of tornado history cases in China will be established and improved, and the research and development of tornado collaborative observation technology and special tornado observation experiments will be carried out. At the same time, we will continue to study the mechanism of tornadoes and parent storms under the specific regional climate background, form the integration and business demonstration of tornado forecasting and early warning technology, and improve and popularize tornado disaster investigation and damage assessment technology.
Zhang Xingying, deputy director of Science, Technology and Climate Change Department of China Meteorological Bureau, said at the kick-off meeting that the laboratory should closely focus on the discipline construction objectives, strengthen the key technical research of tornado formation mechanism, enhance the tornado monitoring and early warning and forecasting ability in the Pearl River Delta region, and improve the operational transformation and application level of scientific research results, so as to make contributions to meteorological disaster prevention and mitigation in Foshan, Guangdong and even the entire Pearl River Delta. At the same time, strengthen the training of high-level talents, and strengthen cooperation with universities to form an integrated innovation mechanism for Industry-University-Research.