Café Mathématique Specials: A talk by Mr. CHAN Pak-wai, Hong Kong Observatory

Are you interested to know how mathematical models and other advanced mathematics are applied in real life? Do you want to meet a mathematician working with the Hong Kong Observatory? This academic talk on windshear and turbulence alerting service at the Hong Kong International Airport is a chance that you don't want to miss! We welcome all undergraduates and master students!

Abstract: Low-level windshear and turbulence could be hazardous to the aircraft operating at the airport. At HKIA, most of the airflow disturbances arise from terrain effect, which occurs mostly in clear air situation. The conventional microwave weather radar is not able to provide persistently good quality wind data in this kind of situation. For windshear alerting, the HKIA is the first airport in the world that introduces a Doppler Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) system. This talk would cover the LIDAR observations of terrain-disrupted airflow and the algorithm so developed to alert low-level windshear and turbulence. The forecasting of windshear is also conducted with the use of a 200-m resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The performance of this model would also be introduced in the talk.