BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's National Climate Center has been providing Nepal with rolling climate monitoring and forecast products to support rescue and relief efforts following a severe mudslide at the Gyirong-Rasuwa border crossing, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said on Thursday.
Following the disaster, the center activated an emergency response and began providing climate services through a Nepal-customized cloud version of MAZU, China's homegrown artificial intelligence (AI)-powered meteorological early warning system.
It has also produced regular analyses of climate conditions in and around the disaster-hit area, along with extended-range forecasts looking several weeks ahead.
Under the CMA's coordination, the National Climate Center is providing Nepal with two main categories of products -- climate monitoring and climate forecasting.
For climate monitoring, the center produces five types of routine products covering conditions such as temperature, precipitation and soil drought. It also tracks 10 major climate indicators, including the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, and the Madden-Julian Oscillation, or MJO.
ENSO refers to a natural climate cycle that affects weather around the world. It includes the warm El Niño phase and the cold La Niña phase. Unlike ENSO, which is stationary, the MJO is an eastward-moving disturbance of clouds, rainfall, winds, and pressure that traverses the tropics and returns to its starting point in 30 to 60 days, on average.
For climate prediction, the center is using Fengshun, an AI climate forecasting model, to provide Nepal with daily temperature and precipitation forecasts for up to 60 days, as well as outlooks for climate phenomena including ENSO and the MJO.
The National Climate Center is also working with the Third Pole Regional Climate Center Network. Since Aug. 28, it has been supplying Nepal with rolling climate outlooks for the coming 15 to 30 days in response to the country's needs, providing additional meteorological information for post-disaster rescue and relief work.
The meteorological support is part of broader China-Nepal cooperation following the Aug. 26 disaster, which was triggered by a fractured glacier on Mount Langtang Lirung in Nepal at an elevation of around 5,200 meters. The glacier collapse generated an ice-rock avalanche that plunged rapidly to around 4,000 meters, scouring mountain slopes and developing into a massive debris flow.
The two sides held video weather consultations immediately after the event, according to the CMA. The administration has been providing Nepal with a range of meteorological products through MAZU, including multi-source satellite data and products from the Fengyun-3 and Fengyun-4 meteorological satellite series.
MAZU, which literally means "Sea Goddess" in China's Minnan culture, is the world's first national-level action plan in response to the United Nations' Early Warnings for All initiative. Since 2024, meteorological agencies in more than 40 countries have accessed MAZU through the cloud. ■
