Weather reports at Shunyi and more

Weather report

A complex system is behind collecting weather information for rowing's Shunyi regatta venue. A meteorological team stays at the rowing venue from 7am to 8pm every day. This is organized by CMA, China Meteorology Administration. The current team comes from Beijing and have had two years of training to do the role. Three times a day the team produces a three hourly weather forecast and two times a day they produce a forecast on the wind at the Shunyi venue.

World Rowing interviewed the meteorological team:

WR: How is your role different?
CMA: Quite a few things are different. To start with we issue a three hourly forecast which is normally never issued to the public. The wind forecast is the second big difference. The wind direction is generally measured at a high of about 10m per second. For a rowing event you need it at 1 or 2m high and we don’t have a lot of experience in this field. We therefore built about 11 observations posts along the course. We analysed data for one year to get a general idea of the general pattern of wind direction and speed at 2m high. A third big difference is the contact with the “customers”; we usually never see or talk with them but here we are in constant contact and it’s sometimes hard to cope with this.

WR: What’s the most difficult part of your job?
CMA: In this region in the summer the most difficult part of weather forecasting is thunderstorms. We get radar data and have a real-time lightning detector which tells us how far a thunderstorm is from the venue. We are part of a project of the WMO, World Meteorology Organisation, called B08 FDP, Forecast Demonstration Project. This enables us to use eight worldwide best real-time forecast systems to help us generate our forecasts. This is not just for the Olympics. It also gives us the opportunity to improve standard forecast afterwards. Experts from other countries participating in the project will come to the venue later this week.

WR: How did you cope with the thunderstorm on Sunday?
CMA: The forecast warned about the upcoming thunderstorm. When we heard that, based on our forecast, the decision was made to postpone the races, we saw how much the competitions rely on our forecast and the huge responsibility that goes with it. But we really cherish this opportunity to do something for the Olympic Games and provide this special service.

The weed patrol

Every day, around lunchtime, six catamaran boats start off at the finish and go to the start and back. There are four people on board; one driver and three people wearing swimming vests and carrying fishing nets. They each take one lane. They are there to make a final check for weed before racing begins.

Watching the rowing

Patrick Hickey, President of the European Olympic Committee. “At the Olympics, I always make sure that I come and see the rowing. It’s such a fantastic venue here. I have a great interest in your sport and although I cheer for all European teams, I support the Irish the most. ”

Shunyi briefs

Umbrellas are always useful in Beijing. When it’s not for the rain, it is for the sun. Hats also appeared today. Newspapers also came in handy.

Any specific skill needed to be an Australian coach? Yes, being able to ride a bike from the pontoon to the boathouse with four oars on your shoulder.

The German team have made good use of a kid’s paddling pool. There is one next to the German tent for athletes to take a cooling bath.

Tuesday seems to be a washing day. There are even more rowing suits hanging out on the balconies of the day village.