The Central Weather Bureau (CWB; ) is the government meteorological research and forecasting institution of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

(Taiwan). In addition to

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

, the Central Weather Bureau also makes

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies ...

observations, reports on sea conditions, and conducts research into

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

and provides

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

reports. The Central Weather Bureau is headquartered in

Taipei City Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the Capital city, capital and a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Regions of Taiwan, Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of t ...

and is administered under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

History

While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the government set up five weather monitoring stations on the island, located in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" ...

Hengchun Hengchun Township is a township located on the southern tip of the Hengchun Peninsula in Pingtung County, Taiwan. It is the southernmost township in Taiwan. Hengchun is also the only urban township in the southern part of Pingtung County. Hengch ...

, and

Penghu The Penghu (, Hokkien POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘'' or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, located approximately west from the main island of Taiwan, covering an area ...

. On 19 December 1897, the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

moved the headquarters to the present location occupied by the eventual successor agency of the Japanese "Taipei Observatory": the Central Weather Bureau. In 1945 when the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

took control of Taiwan the various stations set up by the Japanese were incorporated into the new Taiwan Provincial Weather Institution, under the Chief Executive of

Taiwan Province Taiwan Province (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ, PFS: ''Thòi-vàn-sén'' or ''Thòi-vân-sén'') is a nominal Administrative divisions of Taiwan, administrative division of the Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC). Its definition has remained part of the Constit ...

Chen Yi Chen Yi may refer to: * Xuanzang (602–664), born as Chen Yi, Chinese Buddhist monk in Tang Dynasty * Chen Yi (Kuomintang) Chen Yi (; courtesy names Gongxia (公俠) and later Gongqia (公洽), sobriquet Tuisu (退素); May 3, 1883 – June ...

. When the position of Chief Executive was abolished in 1947 (the new head of local government being the

Governor of Taiwan Province The Taiwan Provincial Government was the government that governed Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. Its functions have been transferred to the National Development Council and other ministries of the Executive Yuan. History At the ...

) the institution became an agency of the

Taiwan Provincial Government The Taiwan Provincial Government was the government that governed Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. Its functions have been transferred to the National Development Council and other ministries of the Executive Yuan. History At the ...

. The Central Weather Bureau itself was established in 1941 in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

under the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan. ...

of the

. In 1947 (and again from 1971 onwards) it was reassigned to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. After the Kuomintang defeat in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

and their subsequent flight to Taiwan in 1949, the Central Weather Bureau relocated from

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. From 1949 to 1958 it was under the control of the Taiwan Provincial Weather Institution, then from 1958 onwards it was resurrected to become the principal meteorological organisation of the government. In 1971 the Central Weather Bureau switched from being a part of the Taiwan Provincial Government to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, under central government authority.

Departments

The Central Weather Bureau has a number of responsibilities, represented by the various departments.

Weather Forecast Center

The Weather Forecast Center () is the department responsible for monitoring actual weather conditions and making short and medium term forecasts concerning the weather. It also issues severe weather advisories for conditions including heavy rain, cold snaps, typhoons and storms, and dense fog. In the case of typhoons, the department closely monitors all tropical storms which might impact the island and issues warnings and predicted typhoon path and severity based on the collected data.

Seismological Center

The Seismological Center () of the Central Weather Bureau was founded in 1989, with a mission to monitor seismic activity in and around the island, publish reports on significant earthquakes, study earthquake precursor phenomena, issue

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

warnings where appropriate, and provide information to the public of earthquake precautions. Taiwan is in a seismically active region on the

Pacific Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many Types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruptions and ...

, with 44 deadly earthquakes occurring there during the twentieth century. The center has 150 seismological monitoring stations through Taiwan, Penghu,

Kinmen Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It lies roughly east of the city of Xiamen in Fujian, from which it is separate ...

(Quemoy) and Matsu.

Marine Cable Hosted Observatory

The Marine Cable Hosted Observatory (MACHO) is a system of underwater sensors connected by fiber optic cable. A 620-km system strung between Yilan and Pingtung. MACHO allows a 10-second warning before a quake and 20-30 minutes warning of a subsequent tsunami. A 800-km system is under construction to monitor the Mariana Trench which is expected to be completed in 2024.

Marine Meteorology Center

The Marine Meteorology Center () was established in 1993 to monitor sea conditions and make predictions about weather at sea for shipping, fisheries, tourism and other interested parties. Variables including wave height, tides, sea level variations, sea surface temperature, and ocean currents are measured to provide an accurate picture of current conditions. The center is also responsible for informing the public of tide times, and cooperates with local tourism bureaux and Fishermen's Associations to erect electronic billboards in harbours to inform seafarers of ocean conditions.

Other departments

The Bureau also includes the following departments: *The Meteorological Satellite Center (), which receives and analyses weather satellite data for observation and prediction purposes. *The Astronomical Observatory (), which not only observes astronomical phenomena such as sunspots and eclipses, but also publishes an annual almanac and provides information on astronomy to the public.

Transportation

The CWB building is accessible within walking distance South from

NTU Hospital Station National Taiwan University Hospital () is a metro station in Taipei, Taiwan served by Taipei Metro. Station overview The station is a two-level, underground station with an island platform. It has four exits, two of which are equipped with elev ...

of the

Taipei Metro Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), branded as Metro Taipei, is a rapid transit system serving the areas of Taipei and New Taipei City, New Taipei in Taiwan, operated by the State-owned enterprise, government-owned Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation ...

Supercomputing

A research supercomputer shared between the Central Weather Bureau and

CAA CAA may refer to: Law * Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 of India ** Citizenship Amendment Act protests, Protests regarding the Citizenship (Amendment) Act * Copyright transfer agreement, Copyright assignment agreement, to transfer copyright to ...

was listed by

TOP500 The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful non-distributed computing, distributed computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year. The first of these ...

as the world's 313rd most powerful computer in 2002, obtaining 0.2 TFlop/s with 25 300MHz cores.

References

{{Earthquakes in Taiwan Central Weather Bureau