Safer skies: The LIDAR windshear alert system scans runway flight paths and provides warnings to aircraft if necessary.

The Hong Kong Observatory has developed the world's first LIDAR windshear alert system to scan runway flight paths and provide minute-to-minute warnings to aircraft landing and taking-off.

The observatory's Assistant Director Wai Hon-gor today said it is the world's first operational system applying laser technology in airport windshear detection. The observatory is one of the world's leading pioneers in the application of remote sensing technology to windshear alerting at airports.

A LIDAR measures the wind by transmitting infrared light pulses and receiving the reflected light from dust particles in the air. The alerting system scans the landing and take-off flight paths with a laser beam to measure the winds ahead of the aircraft. When it detects windshear, it sends radio transmission alerts to pilots.