Johannes Strolz of team Austria wins the gold medal during the Olympic Games 2022, Men's Alpine Combined on February 10, 2022 at National Alpine Skiing Center in Yanqing. Photo: VCG

Chinese scientists with the state-owned high-tech giant China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) are offering their radar expertise to support the ongoing Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, in the fields of weather monitoring and forecasting, which are essential especially for outdoor competitions on the snow.

In an exclusive interview with the Global Times on Thursday, the Beijing Institute of Radio Measurement (BIRM) under the CASIC revealed that it has provided more than 100 devices including meteorological radars, automatic meteorological stations and portable snow monitoring devices to support the weather monitoring and forecasting in the Olympic competition zones in Beijing's suburban Yanqing district and adjacent Zhangjiakou, in North China's Hebei Province. 

The devices, which help monitor meteorological factors such as temperature, atmospheric pressure, and wind direction and speed, support and empower the Games organizers to realize "3D observation, second-level sampling and minute-level data transmission" of weather services in the competition zones, according to the BIRM. 

"We have established a 100-meter level forecast mechanism on a minute basis, and achieved seamless real-time forecasting and early warning from zero to 10 days," Huang Keying, a spokesperson of Yanqing district, said on Wednesday during a special press conference on Beijing's venue services.

The wind profiler radar, one of the products the institute provided to the Winter Games, is capable of observing the atmospheric wind field (wind speed and direction, and other data) from 150 meters to 6 kilometers above the ground, with a layered observation of 60 meters. It provides a dataset every 6 minutes for the meteorological department.

The automatic meteorological station also monitors around the clock data including wind speed, direction as well as temperature and humidity.

According to Huang, the largest drop in elevation is about 1,000 meters in Yanqing's National Alpine Skiing Centre. If athletes encounter strong gales, not only will their performance be affected, they may find it hard to control their bodies, which could lead to serious injuries. 

For example, the men's downhill at the Winter Olympics, which was originally set at 11 am on Sunday, was postponed to Monday at noon due to unsafe high winds. During the delay, the weather forecast team studied the changes in wind speeds hour by hour, and reported these weather conditions promptly.

Such great meteorological services and good weather conditions ensured the successful holding of the delayed event. According to Huang, race director Markus Waldner spoke highly of the professional and precise meteorological services in the Yanqing competition zone.