A new weather satellite, developed in Shanghai to greatly improve weather forecasting is expected to be launched late next year, the satellite designer told Shanghai Daily on Monday.

The orbiter, called Fengyun 3, is considered China's second generation of polar orbiting meteorological satellite. Its lens can zoom in for close-ups of a 250-square-meter area -- four times better than the current generation.

Through its microwave band channel, the new orbiter can take three-dimensional pictures by penetrating the clouds. Its predecessor Fengyun 1 could only take two-dimensional pictures.

"It will greatly help improve the precision of weather forecasting, particularly for the mid- and long term," said Meng Zhizhong, a satellite designer at the Shanghai Astronautics Bureau.

Working together with geo-stationary orbiters, Fengyun 3 will help eliminate vague weather forecast expressions, such as "rain in some areas."

Currently, ambiguous weather forecasting words such as "medium to light rain at times in some areas" are overused by the bureau despite constant complaints from citizens.

"Weather forecasting is not always believable," said Shen Zhihao, a professional with a private trade company. "Sometimes the weatherman said it would rain but there was a lot of sunshine."

Officials of the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said they will divide the city into zones and soon use specific forecast expressions, such as "rain in the city's north" or "fog in the city's northwestern suburb."

The remote-sensing capacity of existing weather orbiters is very limited and they can't pinpoint the movement of clouds, particularly during monsoon seasons, leading to vague forecasts, experts said.

Zhou Hongmei, a senior engineer at the bureau, said: "When the satellite is in place, weather forecasts will be more precise and specific."

(Shanghai Daily May 16, 2006)