GEO participates in Shanghai Expo

The MeteoWorld Pavilion was officially unveiled on 9 May by the World Meteorological Organization, the China Meteorological Administration, EUMETSAT and GEO at the Shanghai Expo Park, Shanghai, China.

The MeteoWorld Pavilion is the first independent meteorological pavilion to appear in the 159-year history of the world Expo. It has been built by the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization and funded by the China Meteorological Administration, in partnership with GEO and EUMETSAT. The Pavilion has been built with a white and transparent membrane structure to give visitors the feeling of "walking in the clouds".

Visitors will take a "space shuttle" into the sky, travel around the "Climate Change Gallery," enjoy the "Wonders on the Top of the Clouds," observe the "Global Climatologic Change," experience the frontier technologies of the "Expo Meteorological Station," and have a vision of the high quality weather services at the "Future House." The Expo’s meteorological signal tower, with a height of 165 meters, becomes the world’s highest and largest thermometer. The glamorous cloud-look MeteoWorld together with the gorgeous Expo’s meteorological signal tower has become a beautiful and unique view within the Expo site.

MeteoWorld Pavilion Shanghai, China.

The theme of the MeteoWorld is ‘for the safety and well-being of people’. The MeteoWorld Pavilion has the four features:

Highlight 1: Green Efforts

Energy efficiency is highlighted in the design and construction of the pavilion. All steel structure and membrane structure materials can be recycled, for a good way to build a temporary construction while offering a splendid appearance as required for exhibitions. The application of external membrane structure and spraying mist, working as a "respiration skin," will help cool down the pavilion, to realize the energy efficiency and green ideas.

Highlight 2: Natural Phenomenon Simulation

3D images & animations, plus a real experience of "Wind, Rain, Thunder and Lightning" will be provided on the second floor of the pavilion to offer visitors a lot of funs.

Highlight 3: Hi-tech Weather Station

A hi-tech weather station has been built inside the pavilion. It showcases the most frontier technologies, which are also applied to WMO's demonstration project "Multi-Hazard Early Warning System." Here visitors can experience the great changes caused by early warning ideas in disaster prevention in future cities. In the meantime, it works during the Expo, to provide timely and accurate weather forecast and services.

Highlight 4: Climate Change Gallery

The exhibition named "Global Climatologic Change and Responsibilities of Cities" simulates possible disasters that could occur due to a changing climate, which will have a strong and significant impact upon visitors. It aims to propose a healthy and clean city life style, arouse visitors' awareness of energy saving and abatement practices in their daily life, and call for a joint effort to confront the challenges resulted from the global climatologic change.