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Surface observation is being conducted at the 77 manned stations with automated equipment. The 16 elements, including pressure, temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloud coverage, wind, solar radiation and so on, are measured every three hours. Under special conditions, such as in heavy rains or severe weather, observations are made every hour or 30 minutes. In addition to the 77 manned stations, KMA has 464 AWSs which collect data on wind direction, wind speed, temperature and precipitation every minute. The AWSs installed in high mountains or on isolated islands contribute to early and small-scale detection of severe weather such as localized torrential downpours. The dense surface observation data collected from the AWSs also play an important role in the preparation of the initial conditions for the numerical prediction models. KMA is operating Asian dust observation stations composing of 16 PM10s and four LIDARs. In addition to the domestic networks, KMA installed each PM10 and TSP in the five source areas of Asian dust in China and monitored its intensity on real-time basis.