Cross-domain applications of meteorological information: from agriculture and animal husbandry to fishery and flower viewing, weather forecasts help people make decisions

The weather forecast not only tells people whether to bring an umbrella tomorrow, but also whether the cows will be too hot to bear, which days are suitable for drying the grass, and even when the cherry blossoms will bloom and when they will go to sea to "find fish". Meteorological data can all be used to help.

Jiang Shunhui, section chief of the Walrus and Climate Group of the Central Meteorological Administration, said that meteorological services are moving from simply providing weather information to cross-domain applications, transforming data such as temperature, humidity, rainfall, ocean currents, etc. into decision-making information that can be directly used in the fields of agriculture, livestock, fishery, water resources, transportation, and health.

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The Meteorological Administration held a meteorological practice workshop. Jiang Shunhui explained "cross-regional meteorological services". She took dairy cows as an example. Taiwan's summers are hot and humid, and dairy cows are prone to "heat stress", which in turn affects their lactation ability. The Meteorological Administration has cooperated with the Livestock Research Institute to currently provide temperature and humidity index forecasts for 130 points across Taiwan for the next week, allowing livestock farmers to cool down cattle sheds in advance, improve feeding management, and also serve as a reference for breeding heat-resistant varieties.

Even "drying grass" depends on the weather. Jiang Shunhui said that Taiwanese cattle can eat fresh pasture in spring and summer. In autumn and winter, the growth of pasture is slow, so dry pasture is needed. In sunny weather, it usually takes 2 to 3 days, and in weak sunshine, it takes 3 to 5 days. Until the moisture content of the pasture drops below 20%, the grass can be collected and packaged. Therefore, the Meteorological Administration provides a "probability forecast of no rain for five consecutive days" to allow operators to decide when to mow and dry the grass and reduce the risk of raining in the middle of the day.

Meteorological data can also predict flowering times. The Meteorological Administration cooperates with the Agricultural Experimental Institute, and the Agricultural Experimental Institute establishes a cherry blossom growth model. The Meteorological Administration provides hourly weather forecast data for specific locations for the next 45 days, and jointly releases cherry blossom flowering period forecasts, so that you can know the time in advance for flower viewing.

When fishing at sea, you can also rely on the weather to "find fish." The Meteorological Administration has cooperated with the Fisheries Experimental Institute to combine sea weather forecasts with fishery resource prediction models and apply them to fishery forecasts such as lock tube, red shrimp, spiny pomfret and swordfish to help fishermen know the location of possible fishing grounds.

Jiang Shunhui said that in the face of climate change, there may be "extreme" trends such as an increase in the number of days of heat waves, a drier dry season, a wetter wet season, and an increase in extreme rainfall during the Meiyu period. Meteorological services no longer just hand over data to users, but further "translate" weather information into information that can actually be acted upon by all walks of life.