HKAES TechTalk by Dr Pak Wai Chan

HKAES TechTalk - Living with Climate Extremes - Hong Kong Perspective

Speaker: Dr Pak Wai Chan, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, HKSAR
Moderator: Professor Yuguo Li, Director of The Edge, Chair Professor of Building Environment from Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong

Abstract:
Hong Kong has a sub-tropical climate and wide variety of weather. Different extreme weather events, including tropical cyclone, heavy rain, and extreme temperatures, can affect Hong Kong and result in significant impacts to the society. Looking into the future, against the background of climate change and local urbanization, Hong Kong will expect even warmer climate, more variable rainfall, more intense typhoons, and a sea level that keeps rising in the coming centuries. This may affect the frequency and severity of various extreme weather and increase the risk of related weather hazards. This presentation will review different kinds of high impact extreme weather in Hong Kong and their past trend and future projection. Moreover, a brief overview on the concept of climate risk management will be shared.

About the Speaker:
Dr Chan was appointed as the Director of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) on 13 March 2023. He joined HKO in 1994 as a Scientific Officer and has been working at the Hong Kong International Airport for over 20 years, with research and operational efforts in airport meteorological instrumentation, low level windshear and turbulence alerting, and high-resolution numerical weather prediction. In 2019, he was promoted as the Assistant Director, taking charge of weather forecasting and warning services, climate change research and corporate communication.

Dr Chan is currently the chair of the meteorology subgroup of the International Civil Aviation Organization in the Asia Pacific Region. He is also the vice-chair of Standing Committee on Measurement, Instrumentation and Traceability of the World Meteorological Organization.

Dr Chan obtained PhD degree from City University of Hong Kong in 2023 on wind engineering. He is also a visiting professor of a number of universities in mainland China and serves as editorial board member of many renowned scientific journals. He has published more than 300 SCI journal papers, mostly on meteorological instruments and measurements.

About the Organizers:
The Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences (HKAES): https://www.hkaes.org
The University of Hong Kong (HKU): https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/innowing2/

The event is supported by Innovation and Technology Commission.

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