Photo of Hoang Sa Meteorological Station staffs in 1964 

Engineer Dinh Ngoc Chau (rightmost) was in charge of the Meteorological Station from 1964 to 1969. 

Hoang Sa Meteorological Station was built by the French in 1932 and operated from 1938 to January 1974. Mr. Le Cuc - a witness who used to be a meteorological officer on the Hoang Sa archipelago said: "The meteorological team consists of 5 people. Their job is to turn on the generator every two to three hours, pump a large red balloon, release it into the air and then use specialized glasses to measure the wind speed and direction. They also used a large telescope to observe the areas around the island, detect the gathering and movement of possible nearby storms. Every two to three hours, they repeat the process and report back to the mainland."