MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: The Star

Minister Datuk Seri Law Hieng Ding said the Meteorological Services Department had forecast that the weather was in a neutral period but they were uncertain to how long the period would last.

"El Nino follows a three to four year cycle and since its last occurence in 1997, we are closely monitoring the weather for any changes or dry spell," he said yesterday.

He said the measures include alerting certain parties not to conduct open burning during dry season as it would aggravate the situation.

"We will take action against those who are responsible for open burning," he said.

Scientists around the world were closely monitoring the sea surface temperatures at the Pacific Ocean for any changes that would cause El Nino, he told a press conference after witnessing the signing ceremony of the new ground receiving station contract between the ministry and Technology Park Malaysia at the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing (Macres).

The station, located in Temerloh, Pahang, is the country's first ground receiving station to receive information from the local satellites, Measat 1, Measat 2 and Tiungsat.

Law said the station was originally scheduled for completion on Sept 9 but he had made a special request for it to be completed by July to assist in monitoring the signs of El Nino occurrence.

Macres director Nik Nasruddin Mahmood said with Malaysia's own RM45.8mil ground station, there was no need to rely on stations from other countries.

"Macres was also working towards preparing early warning systems and weather predictions to help in preventive measures," he added.

Nik Nasruddin also said information obtained from the station would be useful for disaster management, for example in taking early action to put out detected forest fires.