The Weather Philippines Foundation and MeteoGroup Share Lessons on the
Deployment of Automatic Weather Stations with Representatives from Tanzania,
Uganda and Zambia
By John T.
Snow
Finding solutions to
Africa’s persistent weather and climate
information challenges is a tough job. It will require new technology, new
approaches and new ways of thinking. Shifting the way we think is never easy.
But solutions are out there. One just has to look for them.
In the Philippines, for
instance, a new network of nearly 1,000 Automatic
Weather Stations (AWS) – installed and maintained through innovative
public-private partnerships – is looking to provide the 100 million people of this island nation with free, accurate
and localized weather information that can be used to save lives, build
resilience and improve livelihoods.
In order to learn from the
experience of the Philippines and apply lessons learned to the unique
political, cultural, economic and social context of sub-Saharan Africa,
representatives from UNDP-supported Climate Information and Early Warning
Systems Projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia recently toured meteorological facilities in the Philippines
on a cross-continental mission to see first-hand how such an extensive weather
and climate observing network can be deployed.
How Does It Work?
The 7,100-plus islands of
the Philippines lie in the Pacific Typhoon Belt, meaning plenty of bad weather
comes this way. And a decade or more of
strained budgets and severe storms has left the Philippines without many of the
modern weather observing or localized weather forecasting systems one might find
in other developing countries.
 |
| AWS deployed. |
To partially meet the need
for better weather observations and localized forecasting across the
archipelago, AboitizPower – a major energy supplier in the Philippines – in
partnership with UnionBank, established the non-profit Weather Philippines Foundation (WPF) in 2012.
The WPF in turn engaged with MeteoGroup
Philippines to build a robust, low-cost system of Automatic Weather Stations.
The cost is about $2500 per site, and to date, about 1,000 units have been
deployed across the nation. The resulting data streams, together with numerical
model output and satellite imagery, drive a local forecast system.
The WPF has also developed a
strong public outreach program to assist the population of the Philippines in
becoming “weather-wiser,”
that is, knowing what weather information will be made available from the WPF,
understanding how such information can be used in a variety of situations, and
then applying that information properly, especially in times of severe weather.
There’s an app, a webpage, dedicated TV channel, and of course Facebook and Twitter
pages. The real star are the localized, and quite accurate, five-day forecasts
and automated current weather feeds that update every ten minutes from the
system of AWS monitoring stations.
Working under a Weather As A
Service Model (WAAS to use yet another acronym), this partnership effectively
uses new technology, localized maintenance to ensure power and security, and cell
communication to bring weather information to end users. Through effective outreach,
it has encouraged use of weather and climate information in decision making at
the lowest levels in communities. In short, it’s a localized observing and forecasting
system that meets local needs.
 |
| Storm tracks provided through the cloud. |
Lessons Learned from the Mission
·
The Philippines
technological offering is sufficient to provide highly localized weather
observations, forecasts of future weather, and early warnings of severe
weather. This information allows individuals to make better, more informed
decisions during life-threatening weather events.
·
Successful
installation of a national system like the one in the Philippines requires
careful end-to-end planning and tightly monitored execution. Key steps include
sensor selection, establishing links with telecommunications providers,
effective delivery systems to share actionable alerts with end users, and smart
information sharing partnerships that allow joint ownership of the data created
through the network.
·
It is possible
to install an extensive local observing network using high-quality equipment at
a relatively modest cost. There’s a real opportunity to benefit from economies
of scale. Local fabrication of components, in-house assembly of the stations
from components, and the use of labor from the receiving communities (with some
training) to install and maintain them further reduces cost – at the same time
building local ownership and pride in the new station.
·
Establishing
strong partnerships with communities, public-sector agencies at all levels,
private-sector players and umbrella organizations to facilitate the operation
and maintenance of the stations is key. These partnerships are useful to create
advocacy support, reduce installation and maintenance costs, increase access,
and benefit from the strengths of various partners.
·
Effective
outreach to the diverse user communities is essential for political and
financial support and to reach those most affected by high-impact weather.
You can learn more about the WPF approach in the
upcoming UNDP publication, “A New Vision: Building resiliency to climate change
through public-private partnerships and advanced weather systems in Africa,”
scheduled for release in early 2016. Stay tuned for more details on applying
lessons learned to the unique context of Africa.
Hot Links
Weather-Wiser Twitter Feed
Tweets by @WeatherPH
Graph It!
No comments:
Post a Comment