China has built the tallest environmental observation tower in the South China Sea, the country’s meteorological administration has said.

Standing at 100 metres (330 feet) tall, the tower is almost three times higher than the previous tallest structure in the South China Sea and built to withstand super typhoons with wind speeds of over 200km/h (125mph), heavy waves, high humidity and high levels of salinity.

It is equipped with sensors to collect round-the-clock, real-time data on wind speeds, temperatures, humidity and air pressure at different altitudes.

Scientists say that with rising ocean and atmospheric temperatures, and increasing numbers of extreme weather events, there is a greater need for better monitoring of environmental conditions.

The South China Sea is one of the areas most at risk from typhoons and its geography – it is semi-enclosed by land – helps funnel typhoons towards southern China.

The administration said meteorologists had previously been unable to monitor atmospheric conditions at different altitudes, limiting the amount of information they could collect on extreme weather events such as typhoons and thunderstorms.

“The implementation of this project further strengthens the … monitoring and protection network in the South China Sea, providing important support for marine meteorological observation in the South China Sea,” China Meteorological News, the administration’s official newspaper, reported on Tuesday.