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China will launch seven meteorological satellites in the next five years and double its investment in meteorological infrastructure, according to Zheng Guoguang, head of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).

That almost doubles the number launched during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) period, he said on the sidelines of the ongoing National People's Congress (NPC) session on Friday.

According to Zheng, the accuracy of the new meteorological satellites will be greatly improved as the observation frequency will increase from once every half an hour to once every five minutes and the ground resolution will be improved from 1 kilometer to between 100 and 200 meters.

He said the meteorological satellites, which are due to launch in 2014 or 2015, will help provide better warning of extreme weather events.

China has made impressive progress enhancing its meteorological observation in the past five years, through launching meteorological satellites and building Doppler radar networks, but the country will increase its efforts during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) in a bid to increase its early-warning capability, Zheng said.

"We have installed 164 weather radar in the past five years, with more than 50 radar under construction now. The number is expected to reach 300 by 2015, so that we can respond to catastrophic weather more effectively," he said.

Zheng said that China will invest 8 to 9 billion yuan ($1.22 to 1.37 billion) in meteorological infrastructure in the next five years, which doubles the investment of the past five years.

In the past 10 years, the investment in meteorological infrastructure grew 15.3 percent each year, exceeding the country's average economic growth rate, which was around 10 percent.

Questions:

1. How may satellites will China launch?

2. What will the new ground resolution be?

3. How many weather radars will be installed by 2015?

Answers:

1. 7.

2. Between 100 and 200 meters.

3. 300.

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（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.