Seismological and Meteorological Research

　　Frequent strong earthquakes occur in Tibet, providing China with facilities for earthquake prediction, countermeasures, and the study of continental structural movements and their causes. The region's seismologists have done much in seismological observation, surveillance, prediction and investigation. At the same time, they have conducted research on the features of seismotectonic belts, and clearly identified Tibet's seismically active areas to assist in earthquake prediction. This not only helps future surveillance and prediction, as well as the study of geophysics and seismology, but also offers vital seismic evidence for the region's economic construction.
　　 In 1985, the Lhasa Geomagnetic Observatory won a silver medal of International Geophysical Observation Centenary. As the country's seismic undertaking developed, the world's most advanced digital seismoscope was installed at the Lhasa Seismic Station in 1992. Since Tibet Seismology was set up 20 years ago, about 480 issues of the earthquake monitoring lists and reports have been printed, and some books and investigative reports published. The book entitled Earthquakes at Zayu and Damxung of Tibet, for example, won a third-class award for science and technology progress at the state level, and A Collection of Historical Materials About Earthquakes in Tibet won second-class award for science and technology progress at the regional level.
　　 Weather reports are the most visible result of meteorological work. Meteorological workers in Tibet provide both meteorological information for the country and service for local economic construction. Due to frequent natural disasters, the production level of agriculture and animal husbandry is relatively low and is poorly capable of withstanding calamities. Therefore, the Tibetan meteorological service has been focused on agricultural production and animal husbandry. In addition to short-term weather forecasts, meteorologists have experimented with artificial weather creation in major agricultural areas. Thanks to the efforts in preventing hailstorms but creating rain in Chengguan District, Lhasa in 1987, agricultural production escaped both hail and drought disasters, with grain output increasing by more than 1.5 million kg over the previous year. Local people happily praised the region's Meteorological Station, saying: "Eliminating hailstorms and creating rainfall to conquer nature; serving agriculture and enabling the poor to get prosperous''.
　　 Closely related to meteorological services, scientific and technological workers studied forecasting methods, and analysed the characteristics of the shear lines of rainstorms on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Research Institute of Astronomy and Calendar, set up in 1981, has been studying the movement of the sun, the moon and stars, as well as their changes in four seasons, publishing the Selected Points of the 17th Cycle of the Dus-vkhor-lugs and other achievements.