An automatic weather station (AWS) recently started servicing aquaculture farmers in Jimo city, East China's Shandong province.

Apart from regular observations including wind direction, wind velocity, air temperature, rainfall, air pressure and humidity, the AWS is the first to collect data on sunshine and sea water temperatures in the province, Qingdao Morning News reported on Tuesday.

The station lies in a coastal village in Fengcheng community of Jimo city. It is equipped with an over 10-meter high tower installed with weather service equipment. A couple sets of measurement devices and a water pool were set up at the foot of the tower. Every day, sea water is pumped into the pool for data collection through a special hose.

The station is functioning smoothly after several days of tests. It transmits weather information to the terminal automatically every day, and provides a weather forecast to local aquaculture farmers, reducing losses caused by natural disasters.

"The station is a weather service program funded by the Ministry of Finance. It is small but very important to local aquaculture," said an official from the local meteorological department.

"It is good for us. I don't need to measure the sea water temperature by myself," said Mr Song, a local farmer breeding sea cucumbers, which have strict requirements regarding sea water temperatures.

The bad weather and sea water temperatures measured by his indigenous methods were not so accurate, damaging his sea cucumber production.

Other famers in Fengcheng community also face production problems caused by temperature and sunshine. The station will give farmers a timely sea weather service forecast that will help them plan cultivation methods.

Jimo city has a coast line spanning more than 180 kilometers. It is suitable for breeding shrimp, sea cucumbers, abalone and scallops. Aquaculture is the main revenue channel for local coastal famers.