SMG improves storm surge monitoring and forecasting skills

In order to strengthen storm surge monitoring and forecasting capabilities, the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) is co-operating with the Pearl River Hydraulic Research Institute from Zhuhai to actively gather marine meteorological observations from the respective sea areas.

On Friday, the SMG issued a statement announcing the co-operation. By the end of this year, it is expected that Macau will be able to receive real-time surveillance data from weather buoys built by the Zhuhai institute.

Data will include the water depth, sea currents, wave height, wind speed, wind direction and atmospheric pressure, among other classes of marine meteorological data.

The observations are believed to “extend the local district’s meteorological monitoring range from the land to the nearby sea area, and from meteorology to hydrology, so as to allow the SMG to better understand the meteorological and hydrological variations in the sea area close to the city.”

The observations are expected to “provide important references regarding the monitoring and forecasting of storm surge.”

In total, there are five weather buoys sending information to the SMG. These five buoys are located below the Sai Van Bridge, in the east sea area of the Macau Peninsula, at the southeastern border of the Macau sea area, at the mouth of Mo Dao Men on the southwest of Macau and at the mouth of Huang Mao Bay on the southwest sea border of Macau.

The Zhuhai Institute is a direct affiliate of the Pearl River Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources of China.

According to the SMG, the institute “has extensive experience in hydrological monitoring in the Pearl River estuary, and over the years, the institute has devoted itself to conduct extensive research on the Pearl River estuary and has installed many other weather buoys in the sea.”