Meteorologists may not always feel appreciated, but at the Beijing Olympics at least they will have their own contest.
Weather agencies from eight countries or territories plan to hold their own competition during the Games in August, squaring off on which one can most accurately predict conditions in Beijing, the Japanese side said on Friday.
Teams from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States will vie each day in predicting the temperature, humidity and precipitation in Beijing and surrounding areas for the coming 36 hours.
Each team will submit its forecasts to the China Meteorological Administration, which will compare the results, Japanese team leader Kazuo Saito said.
Besides the fun, the showdown is meant to let agencies compare their systems and perhaps improve their own models, said Tsuyoshi Watanabe, another official at Japan’s Meteorological Research Institute.
Japanese researchers will conduct their forecasts from their supercomputer in Tsukuba, a hub of scientific research.
While Japan has participated in preparatory meets in 2005 and 2006, the Beijing Olympics will be its first chance to face off against the world’s most advanced systems.
“Japan’s model uses a sophisticated technique and we had a very good report card at the last two projects,” Saito said.
But as other countries have honed their techniques since then, “I don’t know what the results will be this year,” he said. — AFP