The 6th Asian Beach Games (ABG) was successfully held in Sanya, Hainan from April 22 to 30, with more than 1,600 athletes from 45 countries and regions taking part in the events.

Meteorological departments of Hainan, China have delivered tailored meteorological services to the event and scored stellar outcome.

First, there are many emerging events. Traditional and innovative competitions such as teqball, beach kabaddi, water polo and rock climbing lack accumulated meteorological observation data, risk assessment technologies and professional service experience.

Second, most events are held outdoors on beaches, offshore waters and open-air venues. Uncontrollable factors such as lightning, gales, sea waves and sand temperature directly affect athletes' performance and event safety.

Third, severe convection forecasting poses great difficulties. In late spring and early summer, Hainan's weather is volatile with frequent, sudden and localized severe convective weather. Specialized targeted forecasts are required for venues, opening and closing ceremony sites, athletes' village, media center and emergency shelters, raising the service difficulty.

Meteorological emergency support vehicles deployed around competition venues by Hainan Provincial Meteorological Services provide real-time observations of meteorological elements such as temperature, wind direction and wind speed. Photo: YUAN Yinglei

High-quality tailored services delivered to ensure the smooth operation of the event

Weaving a dense observation network, remarkable progresses has been achieved in precise offshore meteorological observation technologies.

The "Observation-as-a-Service" application scenario for ABS has been built, delivering full-coverage, dead-angle-free and minute-level real-time meteorological services across the core competition areas.

On the strength of new observation facilities including 15 drifting buoys, 3 mobile unmanned observation boats and 2 wind lidars, real-time sea surface wind field, wave height, and vertical variations of wind direction and speed for marine events such as sailing and aquathlon have been collected.

Beach temperature monitoring stations at the beach venue cluster provide sand temperature early warning for athlete safety and event scheduling of barefoot beach competitions.

Short-range Sand Temperature Forecast Product Photo credits to CHENG Shouchang

3 X-band radars, the 100-meter precision monitoring product of FENGYUN Earth Asian Beach Games Edition, and intensive observation across Hainan, Guangdong and Guangxi have successfully provided minute-scale decision-making basis for the refined monitoring and assessment of severe convective weather in all competition zones.

Special ABG editions of the Tianheng-Tianyan and Tianqing systems have integrated 103 observation products, unblocked data transmission links for sand temperature, sea surface temperature, wave height and other parameters, and realized real-time aggregation, fusion analysis and unified display of land, sea, air and space monitoring data.

With technological empowerment, marked progress scored in forecasting capabilities for tropical small-scale weather systems

By optimizing the interpretation and application of numerical weather models, developing exclusive technologies, and improving early warning mechanisms, an integrated forecasting and early warning system covering long, medium, short and nowcasting timescales has been established, achieving a leap forward to precise forecasting at 100-meter, minute-scale and venue-specific scales.

Type Ⅱ drifting buoy (unmanned boat) meteorological observation stations deployed for the first time at the Asian Beach Games Source: Hainan Provincial Meteorological Observation Centre

Based on a multi-source fusion method based on radar UAM network extrapolation and spatio-temporal neighborhood technology, 1 km * 1 h short-range heavy rainfall and thunderstorm gale forecasting products for Sanya and competition venues over the next 24 hours has been developed. By integrating optimal MOS ensemble and machine learning algorithms, hourly refined wind field forecasts for the next 72 hours are provided for sailing and windsurfing events.

An integrated smart meteorological support platform for ABS has been independently developed. It integrates exclusive technologies such as the intelligent sand temperature forecast model and the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index forecasting model, and connects with the Station-based Refined Nowcasting Forecast (STNF) technology as well as national operational products including Fenglei and Fengqing. The platform enables threshold alerting and automatic product generation, comprehensively boosting the quality and efficiency of meteorological support services for ABG.

Regional automatic meteorological stations installed at the Tianyahaijiao venue cluster for the ABG are equipped with black globe temperature monitoring function. Photo: YUAN Yinglei

Full-chain Diversified Services delivered to accurately grasp weather conditions

Meteorological service product catalog for ABG has been formulated, covering nearly 30 Chinese and English service products across 5 major categories: real-time monitoring, forecast and early warning, climatic background, risk assessment and emergency response. Targeting different service recipients including the event departments, opening and closing ceremony director team, technical officials, athletes and the general public, differentiated tailored services are delivered accordingly.

A rapid meteorological information push mechanism has been established, and meteorological alerts and updates are delivered to target audiences with zero latency through multiple channels including the Organizing Committee's command system, venue large screens, walkie-talkies, Haizhengtong, WeChat and Douyin, ensuring full coverage with no blind spots for meteorological information dissemination.

Meteorological services have been delivered in a proactive, precise, efficient and considerate manner. A total of 52 issues of weather trend forecasts for ABG, 731 Chinese and English special venue and event forecasts, 13 high-impact severe convective weather forecasts, 97 special briefings for the opening and closing ceremonies, 84 real-time weather updates, and more than 50 bilingual popular science videos were released.

Through early warning, accurate forecasting and effective avoidance of critical weather events, 2 episodes of short-range heavy rainfall, two rounds of thunderstorm gales and two lightning processes were successfully forewarned. Fine weather windows were precisely secured for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as key competition periods.

Meteorological departments set up 5 major meteorological support platforms including the special Asian Beach Games edition of Tianheng-Tianyan and FENGYUN Earth at the emergency and medical command center for the Games' opening ceremony. Photo: YUAN Yinglei

Event Risk Early Warning Supports Efficient Emergency Response

A meteorological emergency response plan has been formulated, clarifying the emergency response procedures and division of responsibilities for sudden meteorological disasters.

Risk grade assessment of meteorological conditions has been carried out under the principle of “one event, one strategy”. Threshold indicators for high-impact weather risks and a repository of response recommendations have been developed, and the suspension mechanism for extreme weather events has been improved.

A closed-loop early warning system featuring advance alert, real-time tracking, rolling update and timely cancellation has been established, alongside an optimized rapid release mechanism for meteorological early warning information.

During ABG, 3 severe convective weather processes occurred in Sanya, with a maximum daily rainfall of 49 millimeters and peak gusts reaching 17.9 meters per second in competition areas. The ABG Meteorological Observatory issued timely severe convection risk alerts and event-specific risk warning products. In light of meteorological advice, the Organizing Committee adjusted the event schedule in advance.

On-site chief forecasters and service staff kept tabs on the weather evolution, communicated meteorological conditions with venue officials in a one-on-one manner, and followed up on the disposal of severe weather in a timely fashion.

They provided support for schedule adjustment, pre-event preparation, facility reinforcement, personnel evacuation and outdoor operation management, minimizing weather-related impacts on the Games. No safety incidents occurred throughout the event, realizing seamless connection and efficient coordination between meteorological information, event organization and emergency disposal.

In collaboration with Hainan Provincial Meteorological Service

Special thanks to YUAN Yinglei with the Service

Planner/Editor: LIU Shuqiao