Chinese scientists set goal of better smog prediction, prevention

Chinese scientists say they are hoping to be able more accurately forecast smog -- long a bane of many Chinese cities -- to be able to issue timely warnings. The research also has a goal of helping control pollution more effectively, they said. "Currently, the abilities to forecast heavy pollution weather and issue early warnings are insufficient," Wang Zifa with the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told China's state-run Xinhua news agency. "Big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have such capabilities but precision is needed." Construction of monitoring and warning systems for heavy-polluted weather will be completed in the Beijing region, the Yangtze Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions in 2014, he said, while other major cities should complete projects in 2015. "It is still rather difficult to carry out high-level pollution forecasts, especially if it is for a period of three consecutive days," Wang said. A research program is under way to upgrade the National Meteorological Center's smog forecasting system, which began operation in 2012 and can currently forecast three days in advance, officials said. The upgrade will make the system much more precise in forecasting smoggy weather and provide timely data about the places and percentages of emission cuts needed to reduce pollution, Zhang Xiaoye, vice president of Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science, said. "For example, if we forecast visibility will be about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) three days later, can we lift the visibility to 10 km (6.2 miles) through pollutant reduction measures?" Zhang asked.