• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Taiwan seeks to build weather radar station in the Philippines

ROC Central News Agency

2010/09/13 21:50:14

By Wang Shu-fen and Deborah Kuo

Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) Taiwan, which shares the same temperate and typhoon zones with the Philippines, is seeking to build a meteorology radar station there to help it pinpoint storm systems earlier, the Central Weather Bureau said Monday.

The weather bureau has been talking with its Philippine counterpart about building a weather radar station on the Batan Islands -- the Philippines' northernmost island group that lies only 180 kilometers south of Taiwan's Orchid Island, a bureau official said.

The radar station will help the Philippines closely monitor typhoons when tropical storms develop there, according to the official.

Taiwan also hopes the station will give it weather information in real time since most storms that affect the Philippines generally cast their shadow over Taiwan as well, the official said.

The bureau currently operates four radar stations around the country, but their range is limited to about 200 kilometers. By building a new station in the Batan Islands, that range will nearly double.

Taiwan has spent US$200,000 on 15 automatic weather stations in Luzon, the largest and most economically and politically important island in the Philippines.

These automatic weather stations are expected to become operational by the end of this year or early next year, according to the official.