Weather matters: The observatory receives broadcasts from the FenyunCast system through a satellite antenna at its headquarters.

The Hong Kong Observatory today launched a new webpage which displays images from the latest weather satellite in the Chinese Fengyun-2 series.

'FengyunCast' - developed by the Chinese Meteorological Administration - is an integral part of a global earth observational data-sharing network called 'GEONetCast'.

It re-broadcasts data from weather satellites over the Asia-Pacific region, including the Mainland's Fengyun-1 and Fengyun-2 satellites, Japan's Multi-functional Transport Satellite-1R, and the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration series and Earth Observing System series of satellites.

Early this year the observatory installed a receiving station for weather satellite data from the FengyunCast system that captures images over the Asia-Pacific region around the clock.

During the rainy season, the two satellites increase the observation frequency and provide an image every 15 minutes. This helps monitor hazardous weather such as tropical cyclones and rainstorms, to prevent and mitigate disasters.

The Mainland launched the Fengyun-3A weather satellite last month. When it begins broadcasting, the observatory will receive its images via the FengyunCast receiving station, too, enhancing weather monitoring in the region.