MeteoWorld to show expo visitors meteorological importance
0 
Visiting the MeteoWorld pavilion at the forthcoming World Expo in Shanghai will not only offer a stroll in make-believe clouds, but also a walk through see-to-believe meteorological technologies.
This promise was made by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which this year enjoys a special treatment of having its own stand separate from all the other UN agencies.
It's a first in the life-span of a century and a half of the global expositions.
The emphasis, according to WMO external relations officer Elena Manaenkova, is to show the importance of meteorology.
"This time it's a special occasion and a really special event. The main message is that meteorological and climatological services are really very vital for the safety and well-being of the population, especially in cities, which are highly populated and the risk of disasters in the event of a meteorological hazards is very high," Manaenkova told Xinhua in an interview.
With highlights on green efforts, natural phenomena, hi-tech weather stations and climate changes, the UN body is to demonstrate to visitors how weather forecast is made and updated by minute.
"It's very important to popularize activities and knowledge about how meteorological services are being produced and provided, first of all to sensitive populations," the WMO official said.
To serve that purpose, the UN body MeteoWorld Pavilion has been set up as a live on-the-spot weather forecasting system, which combines various technologies in one pilot early-warning system with enhanced meteorological capabilities, according to Manaenkova.
"There are many technological features inside to try to show how all meteorological services on the whole cooperate together to produce a forecast in one location," she added.
The pilot system is expected to demonstrate to visitors during the six months of the expo what the multi-hazard early warning system is capable of in meteorological and climatologic forecasts, Manaenkova promised.
In previous World Expos, the WMO was either bundled with other UN bodies in one big UN pavilion or hosted away by the hosting national meteorological agency in its stand.
"The Chinese Meteorological Administration has played a major role in providing all of the logistics, the construction, the design and so on and so forth. The enthusiasm of our Chinese colleagues was a defining element of the (MeteoWorld) pavilion's success," the WMO official said.
Manaenkova described the MeteoWorld as "indeed the pavilion of the world meteorological community because the materials and films and samples were recruited from many, many counties which contributed to this exposition."
Go to Forum >>0 Comments