Photo: The meteorological observation site of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Sub-center of the World Meteorological Center (Beijing). (Photo by Wang Minghui)

Photo: Data center technicians debugging the intelligent video observation instrument for weather phenomena. (Photo by Wang Minghui)

Photo: The virtualized (3D) operational monitoring system for meteorological equipment in Guangdong Province. (Photo by Wang Minghui)

Photo: Data display platform for observation equipment at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Sub-center. (Photo by Wang Minghui)

On November 20, the inauguration ceremony of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Sub-center of the World Meteorological Center (Beijing) (hereinafter referred to as the "Sub-center") and the opening ceremony of the 2023 International Training Course on Tropical Cyclone Monitoring and Forecasting and Senior Management were held in Huangpu, Guangzhou. The distinctive WMC building attracted the attention of domestic and international experts, and the tidy meteorological observation site and diverse new observation equipment became the focal point of the event.

To provide technical support for this meteorological event, the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Data Center overcame challenges such as tight timelines and heavy tasks. The center promptly organized a coordination meeting, and departments such as the Detection Technology Section, Equipment Coordination Section, Instrument R&D Room, and Standardization Office worked together to ensure the standardized supply of new observation equipment. After nearly a month of continuous effort, on November 10, the full set of observation equipment was installed at the Sub-center's observation site according to the national ground station standards. Additionally, a super-ecological station was deployed, and the normal observation and data upload of new automatic stations, super-ecological stations, comfort measurement instruments, intelligent video observation instruments for weather phenomena, precipitation instruments, sunshine measurement equipment, and other observation devices were achieved ahead of schedule.

At the same time as the equipment was built, the Data Center integrated the new equipment into the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Equipment Virtualization (3D) Operation Monitoring System. Using digital twin technology, the system achieved a 1:1 digital replica of the observation site’s technical equipment. Furthermore, within just one month, the Data Center developed a custom observation equipment data display platform for the Sub-center. This platform simultaneously displays the models, descriptions, and installation locations of the observation equipment, automatically updates real-time meteorological observation products and the one-week historical data trends, and provides the actual conditions of various meteorological elements in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The successful launch of the Sub-center has provided a platform to showcase Guangdong’s meteorological capabilities. In the future, the Guangdong Provincial Meteorological Data Center will fully support the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Sub-center of the World Meteorological Center (Beijing) and contribute Chinese wisdom and Guangdong strength to the global meteorological cause. (Reported by Wang Minghui, He Guanzhou, and Zheng Yingbang from the Data Center)