The Varysian Guide 2019/20

The

Varysian Guide

2019/20 Hydro-Meteorology

A Reference Guide for Capacity-Building & Industry Solutions

Protect Lives and Property. Maximize Weather Intelligence.

Be Empowered.

Vaisala makes predicting weather easier. Our leading environmental and weather measurement systems and services enhance your capacity to detect, track, and warn of dangerous weather events, as well as to monitor changing climate, minimizing loss of lives and damage to property.

vaisala.com/CapacityBuilding

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Contents p5 p6

■ Foreword

About us

Varysian founder Tom Copping

Published by Varysian

■ Global insights

Editor

NMHS views from around the world

p11 p13

■ Public-private collaboration

Managing Director / Founder Tom Copping

■ 01 Capacity-building

Director / Global Public Partnerships Luke Pierce

Low-cost rural observation /

Production Manager

Hydro-Meteorological Equipment Industry

Rachel Bow

Association (HMEI) / Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO) / Mercury ban / Center for Development & Strategy / Women in hydro-met / Buyer’s guide / Capacity roadmap

Partnerships Manager – Private Sector Liam Smith Partnerships Manager – Public Sector Andy Cheung Design

■ 02 Multi-industry solutions

Laura Maine

Vaisala / Delta OHM / OTT Hydromet /

Layout

MBW Calibration / Comptus

p47

(antony.ireland@varysian.com)

Baron’s Jack Hayes Public-private cooperation / Project design /

p34

Antony Ireland

Mark Baker

■ 03 Monitoring Barani Design Technologies / Campbell Scientific / FT Technologies / Sparv Embedded / Anemoment / Comet Project / En-Sci / Vaisala / Fairmount Weather Systems

p67

■ 04 Hydrology Sommer / Aquatic Informatics

p73

■ 05 Weather radar/Lidar Baron / Leonardo / L3 Technologies / Raymetrics / EWR Radar

p87

■ 06 Forecasting/modelling nowcast / World Climate Service / Accuweather / IBL Software Engineering / meteoblue

p104 p110

Our address The Old Sunday School, Chapel Street, Waterbeach, Cambridge CB25 9HR, UK Tel: +44 01223 863289, info@varysian.com www.varysian.com

Printed by Mixam The views expressed in these articles are

■ 07 Weather risk solutions

those of the authors and not necessarily

Wx Risk Global / The Weather Company

care has been taken during production, the

■ Directory

errors that may have occurred. © 2019

endorsed by the publisher. While every publisher does not accept any liability for any

Not unique Just better

info@deltaohm.com www.deltaohm.com

info@deltaohm.com www.deltaohm.com We look forward to your enquiry: info@deltaohm.com www.deltaohm.com

✛ www.varysian.com

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✛ Foreword

Uniting under one shared goal If the continuation and prosperity of life on Earth is our primary focus, there is no greater threat than the impacts of extreme weather. Although theories differ on the causes, the clear upturn in the frequency and ferocity of weather events posits the question: are we now beyond the point of theory?

If theory creates awareness and action saves lives, the hydro-meteorological field’s role stretches beyond asking “why” and firmly into “how” we mitigate this problem. The private sector has many of the answers, but often its motives are questioned.

The private sector should be – and in the main, is – transparent. Private companies need to make money to provide more for the public sector, but disclosure has not always been prevalent, leaving some NMHSs in the developing world with many different – unconnected – solutions.

“The private sector, as you will see in this publication, is here to serve you” No partnership is perfect, but with buy-in from both sides, it can always be made better. We need to regain and build trust.

There are many great companies that want to provide the right solution, but it is imperative we continue to build on the pivotal PPP/PPE work undertaken by the WMO and the World Bank to encourage private sector engagement with specifiers, implementers, training and maintenance stakeholders to make projects work.

Without ‘knowledge capacity’ to build on, private sector solutions can end up being a waste of donor/ public sector money. But without the private sector, there are no tools with which to build capacity.

It is a ‘chicken and egg’ scenario; or is it? The public/ private sector relationship, as I see it, is not bi-polar but united under one goal – the ongoing prosperity of the human race. If that’s not your goal, you might be in the wrong industry.

If hydro-meteorological capacity is to grow in every country around the world, we must focus on correct solutions, not sales targets; on more openness from consultants and NMHS specifiers; and to invite genuine guidance on project specifications from the private sector.

An introduction by Varysian Founder and Managing Director Tom Copping

If the consultant and/or the NMHS does not have the requisite technical capacity and millions are being spent on a project, that project is destined to fail without impartial technical consultation from the private sector.

We have to get it right from the start of the process.

Building knowledge Getting the technicalities right is only one aspect we must also focus on other important factors such as training. It is estimated that there are over 30,000 untrained staff in NMHSs, globally. Without training, the national networks become graveyards of unrealised monitoring and forecasting potential.

If we get the technical issues right, train people in-country, and operate under one shared vision, projects will have a greater chance of success, helping governments abate the fatalities, loss of property and crops happening the world over.

Varysian this year launches a new version of our free-to-use network of companies, which gives our NMHS members control and choice over who they wish to speak with to better plan projects. We must build on the work done in PPPs to date and develop even more critical, integrated discussions between the public and private sectors.

The private sector, as you will see in this publication, is here to serve you.

Hydro-meteorology is in some ways the unknown industry. It is small and not well understood by the public, yet so vitally important to our future on this planet; it has the capacity to be that unknown saviour that we so desperately need. What a privilege it is to be a part of this movement. Let’s come together, find the right solutions and build capacity to reduce risk and save lives. ✛

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✛ NMHS perspectives

Klement Bergant. Director, Meteorological & Hydrological Office, Slovenia For small services like ours, cooperation with similar neighbouring services as well as research institutions and universities is crucial so that we can exchange our data, share common development projects and more efficiently serve society through better weather warnings and alerts.

Co-operation with the private sector will also become more important, for the benefit of both sides.

It is also important to explain to politicians how NMHSs contribute to society, and this challenge is repeated every time we have a new government.

However, we have had some success.

Recently a new Act on the National Meteorological, Hydrological, Oceanographic and Seismological Service came into force which clearly defines our responsibilities and role.

Boris Polynice Anato, Head of Forecasting Service, Benin Meteorological Agency We don’t have a lot of technology. Creating partnerships is a very good idea. I want people to show us how to get more funding and find better equipment so that we can grow. We need help as we know who the funding organisations are but don’t know how to actually get the funds needed to improve our services.

We don’t collaborate directly with fellow African NMHSs very often - mainly through regional organisations like ACMAD and AGRHYMET - but I think that we could quite easily do more. Some countries’ problems are very similar so we could have the same projects for stations and radar coverage. I think that if we work together we can achieve a great deal.

“It is important to explain to politicians how NMHSs contribute to society, and this challenge is repeated every time we have a new government” Daouda Konate, President, WMO RA-I Demonstrating the value of publicprivate partnerships is very important if we are to increase the capacity of African NHMSs. Improving data quality and sharing, from surface-based weather monitoring to satellite data networks is central to improving the provision of timely, accurate forecasts and alerts.

Data exchange is absolutely essential going forward, not just between NHMSs in Africa, but also with private companies and organisations from

around the globe.

So is improving the consistency and overall standard of NHMS data capabilities, including quality control of climate data management system architecture at national level.

Facilitating NHMSs’ access to relevant information on new tools for collecting, processing and disseminating information is vital; increasing the knowledge of NMHSs enhances their capacity to perform their mandates.

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✛ NMHS perspectives

Mr. Abdulla Al-Mannai, Director, Qatar Meteorological Department

“If an NMHS is able to commercialise and get back 20% of spending it is a successful commercial weather office” Dr. Ayman Ghulam, General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection, Saudi Arabia We have noticed a shift in rainfall locations due to a shift of the climate regime, and we have to align ourselves with these changes with our climate observation systems and methods.

We would also like to have our own climate models in Saudi Arabia.

The WMO’s strategic plan is to open the door for the private sector to progress the work of NMHSs.

We certainly need to have the private sector working with us to develop our services.

They have the money, and we, the national centres, have the experience and the tools.

Bi-national collaboration also helps us in our numerical weather predictions, because when we run our models we need boundary weather conditions and also bi-national data.

“We certainly need to have the private sector working with us to develop our services. They have the money, and we, the national centres, have the experience and the tools”

We have to be pragmatic.

Meteorology is not profitable.

If an NMHS is able to commercialise and get back 20% of spending it is a successful commercial weather office.

Financially-challenged meteorological offices need to set up their observational networks. The private sector should provide a cheaper alternative for financially-challenged offices. This way we can understand more to the benefit of everyone.

The interests of the private sector have benefited us as meteorological departments.

For example, their development has helped speed up forecasting capabilities and injected better computing power for numerical modelling.

It is important to educate the younger generation to combat the lack of interest in meteorology in the future. We give graduates, after working for a couple of years in the met office, the option to continue their studies at Reading University and other institutions and many have successfully achieved a master qualification. We do encourage our forecasters to pursue further study but it’s always their personal choice, as it is their choice whether to move into the private sector.

✛ www.baronweather.com

✛ Public-private collaboration

Working across the aisle Several experts, including those at the Munich Reinsurance Company, have presented data which shows that the impact of severe weather has grown five-fold during the past three decades. One has only to review the impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico and Caribbean countries just last year to appreciate the need for stronger, more effective warning and preparation to mitigate what we cannot prevent.

At the same time, science and technology are providing opportunities for major advances in severe weather detection and prediction, which lead to increasingly longer and more accurate forecasts and warnings that can provide communities with more time to prepare – everything from deploying sandbags for flood avoidance and moving to basements and secure facilities when tornadoes threaten, to evacuations from coastal locations to escape potentially devastating hurricane storm surges.

Budget pressure I see several challenges facing governments today. Of course, the first is simply the budget process; we hear on the news every year about the competing needs of the US and weather improvements need to compete with a broad spectrum of national needs – the nation’s infrastructure, health and wellness, and homeland security. The same is true in virtually every country across the world.

These budget challenges will never go away, so, in my view, improvements can still be made by committed people working together to chip away at the obstacles to better weather and hydrological services. It requires people in all sectors (public, private and academic) working as a global weather enterprise to advance weather forecasts and warnings to benefit societies worldwide.

Such partnerships are succeeding on regional scales today; they simply need to be expanded and strengthened.

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In April 2018, former US National Weather Service (NWS) Director Dr. Jack Hayes joined Baron’s international business development staff. Below he offers insights on how the public and private sectors are working together to build global capacity.

Effective communication A second challenge is communicating the threat to the public in a way that causes the right response.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard about people ignoring “turn around, don’t drown” signs, entering innocent-looking but powerful flows of flood water, and being swept away – and tragically many times drowning.

“The Global Weather Enterprise Forum needs the support of the public and all sectors” Also, better educating and communicating to the public about the nature of the severe weather threat in a way which triggers the right responses will save lives. The NWS, in partnership with other state and federal agencies, invests a significant effort in educating the public prior to tornado and hurricane seasons; similar programmes are conducted for floods and other weather threats. These need to be continued and strengthened.

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✛ Public-private collaboration

Global collaboration Weather has no geographic boundaries. What occurs over Asia will, in some form, move across the Pacific and impact the US. The WMO’s World Weather Watch programme was initiated in the 1960s to motivate and strengthen international co-operation. Science and technology developed and strengthened as a result. Reliable weather forecasts in the 1970s were one to two days in length; today we’re at five to seven days – in large measure because of international co-operation sponsored by the WMO and the 5-7 days continuing commitment of all Length of reliable members of the weather enterweather forecasts prise. today Within the last year, a renewed effort to further increase co-operation and collaboration across the public, private and academic sectors has been initiated by the WMO in partnership with the World Bank.

A key motivation is to produce improvements in developing countries where budget challenges are as great as, or greater, than in the US. This initiative – the Global Weather Enterprise Forum – needs the support of the public and all three sectors.

Positive progress Across the board, the trends are generally positive.

Technology, such as weather satellites, weather radars and mesonets, is allowing the development and deployment of increasingly accurate observations at high enough resolutions needed by models to predict future weather accurately.

Dr. Jack Hayes at the WMO Headquarters in 2007

✛ www.baronweather.com

Dr. Hayes during a National Weather Service trip to China

Computer processing and data transmission are rapidly advancing, allowing higher resolution models to be run, and for more precise forecasts to be generated and communicated to the public and government/business decision makers.

For tornadoes alone, the number of fatalities has been reduced by more than 50% since the 1950s and 1960s. I see no reason why continued infusion of new science and technology won’t continue this kind of trend for all significant weather.

So how will weather detection and forecasting evolve over the next 10 years and beyond?

I have great confidence that our research enterprise will produce new science and technologies that will continue to improve both the detection and prediction of weather which poses a potential threat to society.

I also see more sophisticated applications which translate weather forecasts into more precise information on how weather affects an event, a system or decision – ultimately further reducing the potential impact to lives and property – and, indeed, mitigating negative economic impacts.

I see a time in the not-too-distant future when the potential occurrence of severe weather, such as hurricanes, winter storms, floods and tornadic activity, will be identified and communicated to societies worldwide well before the storms form, and with the precision needed to take action. ✛ Author: Jack Hayes, International Business Development, Baron

Capacitybuilding

01

15 Public-private partnerships Building capacity more efficiently > 17 Project design Partnering for long-term sustainability > 19 Rural observations Community participation > 20 CIMO Raising data quality > 22 HMEI Tender specifications > 24 Mercury ban > 26 CDS Drought and societal stability > 28 Women in hydro-met Diversity and inclusion > 31 Buyer’s Guide Cost-effective sourcing > 33 Varysian Capacity Roadmap

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✛ Capacity-building

✛ www.varysian.com

Mutual benefit through data exchange The WMO has been successful in encouraging open data sharing between NMHSs via the World Information System (WIS), yet the integration of public and private data and networks is still inconsistent and incoherent.

Private companies cannot feasibly give their data away as they would go out of business, however, meteoblue is one private company pioneering an exchange-based model in which it trades its historical data and simulations for

You will also read that there is much work to be done to ensure that networks are properly maintained, for NMHSs to obtain the solutions they really need, and for data quality to be improved. It is vitally important that NMHSs not only acquire fit-for-purpose solutions and vendors have an ethical responsibility to sell NMHSs systems that are appropriate to their needs.

It is also essential that they help NMHSs properly maintain their networks. Without proper calibration, maintenance and management, networks fail, data suffers and forecasting abilities deteriorate, putting lives at risk. But the process begins with sustainable project design.

NMHSs must first establish what they need. As obvious as this sounds, many practitioners in the private sector report that buyers often believe they need sophisticated solutions or equipment when a basic system may provide all the information they need.

Data density is highly coveted in many parts of the developing world, however, there is little point wasting money on expensive radars or thousands of AWSs if a smaller number may provide the

Government buy-in for hydro-met partnerships Foreign companies often complain of the administrative, regulatory or cultural barriers that make it difficult or time-consuming to do business in some developing world countries. Vendors call on NMHSs to communicate to their governments the value their hydro-met network brings to society (from protecting the public to sustaining industry) and the key role private companies can play to encourage policy change to improve ease-of-business for foreign private partners.

local measurement data from the user, helping put better modelling data in the hands of NMHSs in a way that benefits both parties.

This kind of arrangement is a good example of cost-effective public-private collaboration in action

and is a model that could potentially be repeated in other areas of the hydro-met industry (such as between weather station operators and forecast providers, or satellite operators and modelling companies, for example).

specific data and resolution needed - at least to begin with. Similarly, expensive modelling software is a waste of resources if the underlying data being collected is unreliable.

Here the private sector can and should offer impartial advice to help NMHSs ask the right questions to determine what solution suits them best. What are the key risks faced in the locality or region? In what ways do these events impact the environment and population? How can those risks be mitigated? Which products and solutions address these issues?

NMHSs must then communicate their needs in a way that is easy for vendors to understand, building in clear timelines, objectives and accountability so that they grow their networks efficiently, sustainably and accountably.

Increasingly, public-private collaborations run for the whole life cycle of a network, with private suppliers providing not just equipment but ongoing operational and maintenance services (see page 17). The private sector is also well positioned to provide valuable product-specific technical training and more generalist training that could assist NMHSs as they strive to clearly define their role, identify and articulate their needs and improve their abilities to grow and operate their networks into the future.

This all of course comes at a price, and given the budgetary pressure many NMHSs are under in the developing world, we hope to see more vendors building these and other value-added services into their offerings as affordably as possible, or in some cases even for free. After all, what better advert for a hydro-met solution than the creation of a truly sustainable network where that may once have seemed impossible? ✛

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✛ Capacity-building

Sustainable project design

Guidance on improving public-private partnerships for long-term network sustainability

Mount Kenya GAW Global Station audit by EMPA

Millions are spent on hydro-met public-private projects each year, yet only a minority prove sustainable over the long term. But why? Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Before you can design any hydro-met system, you must first fully understand the local environment. Even well-intentioned strategic implementation plans by international funding institutions are often built on preconceived notions or past experiences that do not align with local capacity, infrastructure and needs. Have consultants appointed on the project spent enough time in-country to truly understand what is required and what challenges must be overcome?

Sustainability is only achievable if it is built into the design of hydro-met projects from day one.

That means thinking for the long term, including succession planning and ongoing operational costs. Too often there is little consideration for the NMHS’s capacity to operate and maintain a network once the project is implemented and suppliers have fulfilled their obligations.

It is equally important for the NMHS to take full ownership of the project once it has been completed, and for individuals to be identified and trained to take on more responsibility during the implementation phase so they can seamlessly take charge when the project is finished. Project design should therefore include not only the cost of maintenance and replacements (preferably over 15+ years) but also the training of local staff.

This is where the private sector can play a much bigger role than it currently does. Public-private collaborations can really add value when suppliers design, build and operate systems rather than simply selling a solution and walking away. They should be involved right from the consulting phase in a partnership approach, and through the life cycle of the project to ensure it runs optimally.

Yes, suppliers are foreign profit-making organisations, but their ongoing success depends on achieving sustainable winning outcomes for their clients, and projects can only benefit from open discussions between buyers and suppliers over what is needed and what solutions are available.

Often project timelines are not realistic, yet suppliers may find themselves penalised for late delivery. If the requirements are not realistically deliverable in the timeframe set out in the tender, suppliers have little choice but to build expected penalties into their pricing from day one. These issues could be easily overcome with better engagement in the consultation stages. A successful project is a true partnership between funding agencies, the NMHS and suppliers.

The importance of accountability Another reason that wastage occurs in hydro-met projects is a lack of accountability. Too often projects are handed from person to person; funding organisations often step back after transferring funds, while consultants often withdraw once

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✛ Capacity-building

tender specifications are agreed and published.

It is essential to identify how capital flows will be maintained throughout the life cycle of the project, and to establish checkpoint targets or toll gates at regular intervals which provide a clear roadmap for both the execution of project objectives and expenditure.

What each PPP project needs, therefore, is a champion – or team of champions – responsible for ensuring the project is executed as planned, from start to finish. These champions can be independent technical consultants or participants from the public or private sectors, or a combination of all three. No one individual has the knowledge or experience to execute every aspect of an end-to-end project – from selecting the right observing systems to the acquisition of telecom/IT infrastructure, data management, forecasting and alerts – so a team of specialists is preferable.

Ideally, this team could be mirrored by staff conducting corresponding roles at the NMHS in a ‘buddy’ system (an IT specialist working closely with the local IT manager, for example) to ensure smooth succession to NMHS ownership.

Champions are also there to co-ordinate. Often NMHSs receive money from various IFI donors and observation equipment from several suppliers from different countries, with no co-ordination whatsoever between them. The result is a multitude of distinct mini networks in various languages which do not talk to each other and which the NMHS struggles to operate.

Not only does the NMHS spend more, it also fails to achieve the density of data it would if those stations formed one comprehensive network.

If local regulations prevent private sector participation in the consultation stage, why not try to involve an established, experienced organisation like the US Geological Survey or UK Met Office to partner in an independent advisory role?

Hiring additional consultants and paying suppliers to operate and maintain networks sounds expensive and of course will add cost to the project, but the long-term efficiency gains should more than compensate. They key is to deliver a project that does exactly what is necessary to protect populations and property in the home country, over the long term.

Optimised functionality It is essential that systems do the job they are intended to do. It may be unwise, for example, to rely on a low-cost GPRS telcom network which offers high levels of reliability for the 95% of the time when there is no danger to the public, but which may fail just when it is needed to issue a critical flood warning. Instead, why not use a hybrid system which employs low-cost GPRS during normal operations but switches to satellite or radio in times of emergency?

Bigger is not always better. Rather than spending its entire budget on installing 100 weather stations, an NMHS may get much more value from a system of 50, spending the additional money on ensuring those stations are well maintained so that they last for years longer. Surely it’s better to spend $150m on a network that lasts 10 years than $50m every two or three years due to a lack of sustainability.

At the same time, cheap – or sometimes even free – does not necessarily mean good, or appropriate. With cheaper instruments on the market all the time, there is a temptation among cost-sensitive NMHSs to go for quantity over quality and populate their networks with as many affordable stations as they can. Super low-cost solutions are of course valuable in certain remote locations and communities, but are best used to complement a network of higher accuracy stations, ideally with data running through models that can identify and smooth out unreliable data.

No matter how big or small, all hydro-met projects should adhere to the guidelines set out by the WMO and report their data in a standard format via the WMO’s Global Telecommunication System. This not only provides valuable data for met services globally but also exposes developing nations to sophisticated modelling for their regions. Even if this means holding NMHSs who fail to adhere accountable.

We have seen tremendous improvement in recent years but there is still far too much wastage and much work to be done. This can be overcome with truly open, sustained dialogue, up-front planning and a partnership approach. It’s all about teamwork, but first the mindset has to change. It’s time for a new approach.

Author: Ashish Raval, Vice President, Global Tenders, Projects and KOL, OTT Hydromet

✛ www.ucar.edu

✛ Capacity-building

Low-cost rural observation Increasing the density of observation in rural areas saves lives and livelihoods. The number of automatic weather stations (AWS) in remote regions is slowly growing, facilitating more localised weather forecasting and earlier warning of high-impact weather events. However, NMHSs in many developing countries lack the funds or human resources to purchase, install, operate and maintain equipment on a wide scale.

Often commercial vendors will install AWSs which work for a while but due to a lack of support and maintenance they eventually fail. Low-cost solutions that can be easily built and maintained in-country or, even better, within local communities themselves save both money and down-time.

Buy-in from the local community is essential.

Education plays a key role in building awareness of the risks posed by weather and climate and importance of meteorological observation.

Volunteers (teachers, students, community leaders, etc.) can be trained to take responsibility for day-to-day checks and maintenance, troubleshooting problems such as cleaning leaves from rain gauges. They do not need to be scientists or engineers, though some may be inspired to pursue hydro-met careers.

GLOBE is one organisation which brings observation into schools, which not only helps the longevity and ongoing maintenance of local stations but also teaches students how observation aligns with both their interests and the sustainability of their communities. Participation by NMHS in this kind of outreach is hugely valuable as students can learn first hand from working experts.

Schools and universities can also be excellent places to base 3D-printers to print cheap replacement components and build AWSs in a controlled, consistent environment. They can also help distribute the AWSs to local communities.

Local radio stations - a key source of up-to-date information for farmers and rural residents - can also play a key role. If they have access to observation data they can broadcast regular readings, such as how much rain fell at the local AWS the previous day, helping farmers plan their irrigation.

Ensuring data quality is a key challenge in this kind of environment as there is of course scope for human error by volunteers and also gaps in observation if equipment fails. While data in this instance

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Why community participation is vital for building capacity in remote areas

Paul Kucera (COMET) explaining 3D-printed AWS data logging to students at a Sirua Aulo High School in Kenya

may not always be adequate as a long-term reference point for NMHSs, having multiple AWSs across a rural region is more effective than one or two ground stations in the early detection of high-impact weather.

Low-cost AWSs provide useful data to supplement more established long-term stations, and their accuracy and capabilities are improving all the time. Many affordable AWSs today can, for example, report data in real time, upload live readings to the Cloud for shared viewing, and send automated alerts when certain measurement thresholds are met - across a widening set of parameters including water level, air quality and soil moisture and temperature.

This information can not only keep vulnerable rural communities warned of potential threats, but also helps them more effectively manage resources to keep farms, business and homes running. One of the biggest challenges that remains is scaling up the work done by publicly funded and charitable organisations. This is where the private sector can and should play a bigger role. ✛ Author: Paul Kucera, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/COMET Program

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✛ Capacity-building

Speaking the same language The Internet of Things has made complex measurement systems more affordable than ever before. In the past, NMHSs tended to seek all-in-one hydro-met networks that would satisfy all requirements with the hope they would last for decades. Those days are now well and truly gone, and we can now satisfy very specific user needs through specific applications, from lightning detection or flood warning systems to urban temperature change heat alarms and networks that monitor bush fires.

The transition to new automated networks presents a huge opportunity for data gathering, but it also poses a threat. A measurement network has to provide information, not just numbers. Users have to know how to interpret data, and this cannot be achieved without standardisation and traceability.

Traceability ensures that your measurement now can be compared to a measurement 20, 30, 40 years ago and years into the future; it is disappointing that

Identifying user needs One of CIMO’s key roles is to keep world NMHSs and regional associations briefed on developments and trends in measurement standards, and importantly, to assist them when tendering for new equipment.

Our focus is on user needs, and to be able to translate user requirements into a measurement requirement. Users must get what they need, not necessarily what they think they need. Rather than buying an instrument, such as an automatic weather station (AWS), the NMHS is actually buying the information that AWS produces.

Typically, an NMHS might say “we want a radar”. But in fact, they need rain fields and rainfall intensity estimates – hence a network of low cost rain gauges may be more effective to improve their forecasting service. If top level management at NMHSs - the key decision makers - lack the understanding and knowledge to make informed decisions, their networks will not be effective.

It is very easy today to buy an instrument that produces numbers every hundredth of a second, but is providing it the information an NMHS wants?

✛ www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/IMOP/CIMO-Guide.html

As NMHSs around the world transition to automatic networks, the hydro-met sector must unite to adopt a standardised, integrated approach to measurement and data

some NMHS leaders see it more as an optional extra.

This needs to change. If users buy new instruments but do not conduct proper maintenance, calibration and validation, data quality suffers. And if equipment is not used, used incorrectly or left to fail, money and resources have been wasted.

Buy-in from senior leaders on the importance of measurement standards – not just practitioners in the field – is therefore essential, and CIMO has set up a working group specifically focused on maintaining standardisation and comparability as we transition to the Internet of Things era.

The private sector therefore has a hugely important role and responsibility to properly inform and train buyers of their products and services, and to deliver solutions that meet uniform WMO-endorsed standards. I’ve worked with many manufacturers over the last four decades and I am very impressed with their efforts to do this.

The association of the Hydrological and Meteorological Equipment Industry (HMEI) is working with CIMO doing important work on tender specifications (see page 22) to ensure that the infrastructure required for any measurement network is clearly explained as part of the tender process. This work is supported by the World Bank.

Uniting under WIGOS However, the quest for standardisation does not end there. In order for initiatives like this to be successfully implemented, a collaborative global effort is needed. Uniting the often disconnected members of hydro-met measurement community into one World Integrated Observing System (WIGOS) community is a key aim for the WMO going forward, and is essential if we are to develop a truly integrated measurement system.

There are various measurement communities within hydro-met; there’s the satellite community doing a superb job covering the globe; the surface monitoring community who have developed AWS systems; hydrology; air quality; agriculture; forestry; aviation; marine - the list goes on. Each has developed from a specific need but the goal of WIGOS is to integrate them into one community supporting environmental intelligence.

How do you do that? First you get them speaking the same language. It sounds odd but often they are using different language to describe the same

✛ www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/IMOP/CIMO-Guide.html

✛ Capacity-building

✛ 21

Participants at the 17th Session of CIMO, Amsterdam, 2018

things and communication can be frustrating.

The WMO has developed with the help of the Swiss Met Service an amazing meta-database of measurement types, essential climate variables and other information called OSCAR. But even that has a problem, for example, a meteorological metrologist may struggle to understand the terms and quantities describing satellite data requirements.

The first step to communicating the same language is getting data from every country uploaded into one centralised World Information System (WIS). The second is ensuring the measurements are to the same standard or, crucially, knowing the uncertainty of the measurements that are being inputted.

Identifying and reducing uncertainty It is unreasonable to expect, for now at least, every locality, region and nation to deliver the same certainty of measurement. But even uncertain data can add value to the global data set provided we collect enough metadata to understand the quality of the measurement. Uncertainty has to be reported in standardised units we all accept, and so contributors to the WIS must be standardise to the System International (SI) and uncertainty derivation.

Determining uncertainty shouldn’t be seen as a chore - in fact, it is actually a resource that

increases understanding and saves money and resources over the long term. Regular training of NMHS staff and auditing of the various national and regional instrument centres is crucial.

I also urge NMHSs to attend measurement comparison events such as the International Pyrheliometric Comparison, which takes place every five years and brings public and private sector practitioners involved in solar and infrared measurement together to compare their instruments’ measurements and also train newcomers.

The third step that needs to be taken is the standardisation of procedures; documentation of the processes involved in a measurement is almost as essential as collecting the data itself.

And the fourth step is to foster a uniform understanding among NMHS leaders of the importance of the information value chain and the impact it has on their services.

It’s a hard job, but the WMO and its members is working hand-in-hand with private sector manufacturers and tech providers to bring this to fruition so the global community will have a wonderful base on which to build its future hydro-met and oceanographic services. ✛ Author: Bruce Forgan, President, Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO).

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Better tender specifications With severe weather events becoming more frequent and extreme, it is more important than ever that NMHSs around the world use standardised equipment. Quality data that is fit for purpose is essential as we strive to achieve worldwide compatibility for worldwide comparability that enhances our understanding.

The importance of data sharing has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, but it will not achieve the needed results if we do not get the foundations right. Accurate data is the foundation of all good forecasting. Measurements that are not fit for purpose will lead to less accurate forecasts and alerts, and that may cost lives.

Faced with the need to increase the density of fit for purpose automatic weather stations (AWSs) around the world, particularly in developing nations, the WMO has tasked hydro-met manufacturers with developing systems that are more affordable and easier to use.

But there is a problem.

Officially, the WMO supports six languages, but there is a seventh – that is the language of specifications, which has its own words and syntax. specifications are how clients articulate their expectations, and how vendors articulate the performance of their equipment. Unfortunately, the language of specifications is not well understood by many outside the vendor community.

Often organisations which operate monitoring

✛www.hmei.org

Capacity can be built much more efficiently if the hydro-met community adopts consistent global tender standards and builds life cycle costs into project tenders

equipment and supply data to NMHSs do not have the technical capacity to set specifications and build projects. The CIMO Guide is an excellent publication but can be confusing for people who don’t fully understand the science from which to derive specifications for their projects, and even NMHSs with meteorologists on staff struggle to optimise procurement.

It is worryingly common for vendors to receive tenders which contain specifications they know are not fit for purpose, or which they do not understand, or that describe equipment that does not exist.

Often, NMHSs will covet some of the specifications they have seen in product A and some from product B, and combine these specs in their tenders.

Vendors may be willing to create a new ‘product C’, but this requires engineering and testing, and that pushes prices up, not down.

Consistent global standards If different countries submit tender specifications in the same format using the same language, to agreed minimum standards, it makes it much easier for vendors to deliver the solutions they need. Over time, efficiency gains should result in better prices for end users, as well as solutions that support worldwide compatibility for worldwide comparability.

The Hydro-Meteorological Equipment Industry Association (HMEI) vision is to bring consis-

Life cycle costing Putting together a fit-for-purpose tender is not just about specifying the right equipment and its desired accuracy. It is also about realistic costing. This means considering the cost of ownership throughout the entire life cycle of the project, not just the cost of a capital acquisition.

How often does the

equipment need to be maintained, and components replaced? Is the solution compatible with your existing forecasting system, and how will it be integrated?

Questions such as these must be addressed at the beginning, but sadly are all too often overlooked.

The outcome is that, soon after the network is commissioned,

the hardware is out of calibration and/or broken and there is no knowledge or resources to fix it.

I encourage buyers to do their research on vendors including getting references – both good and bad, as bad references show you how that vendor responded to resolve a problem.

Factoring cost of

ownership into the tender prevents vendors from undercutting costs to win deals, then raising prices on replacement parts.

Indeed, the cheapest option in the short-term may not always been the most cost effective over 5, 10 or 20 years.

Capacity is built through the development of financially sustainable networks.

✛ www.hmei.org

✛ Capacity-building

Norwegian N-ICE2015 expedition in the Arctic

Flickr/Frede Lamo, UNIS

Instrument installation at Bukit Kototabang GAW Global station in Indonesia

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tency and comparability to tenders all around the world. In 2016 HMEI embarked on a two-phase plan in partnership with the World Bank titled the HMEI-WMO Tender Specifications Project. The first phase – the creation of the Generic AWS Tender Specifications Documentation for AWS tenders – is almost complete. This documentation is now available on the WMO website for testing by NMHSs. HMEI hopes these standards will soon be accepted so we can complete the second phase, the development of an interactive web tool which helps and guides users to input specifications into a consistent and comprehensive tender document, including contractual wordings. This will include the flexibility to allow buyers to set their own parameters to ensure they get solutions fit for their purposes.

The project started with AWSs but over time the same level of standardisation is needed for tenders in various other hydro-met fields, from upper air, hydrology, lightning detection and beyond. If we can bring standardisation across the whole industry, we will prevent countries having to redo the time-consuming process of drawing up tender specifications from scratch every time.

Collaborative approach Governments must also encourage collaboration within internal departments to avoid duplication of work and spending in order to gain economies of scale.

Often IFIs will fund several projects in the same country but these projects usually operate in isolation, with all stakeholders missing opportunities to share data, equipment, expertise and expenses.

There are cases where multiple departments have each have the same or similar equipment within close proximity to each other. How much more efficient would it be to have comprehensive station in an area where the data is shared between departments. The other stations could easily be installed across the region improving spatial distribution?

There are many ways in which money and resources can be saved if we do things differently.

As well as talking to vendors, buyers can work with the WMO, its members and/or technical consultants from international funding institutions to ensure they clearly articulate their needs. Every client needs a trusted adviser, and poorly resourced nations should not be without guidance. ✛ Author: Brian Day, Chairman, HMEI

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Mercury replacement In 2013, the UNEP Minamata Convention on mercury banned all production, import and export of observing instruments containing mercury in Europe from 2014 and globally from 2020.

Mercury is a very dangerous substance which, if inhaled, can harm the nervous, digestive and immune systems and cause numerous neurological and behavioural disorders. If spilled, mercury can vaporise and travel long distances before settling into the atmosphere. Instruments containing mercury must therefore be handled with extreme care, and the disposal of mercury and mercury-inglass instruments must follow national environmental or health and safety legislation.

The ban on these instruments has significant implications for meteorology – an industry in which mercury-based thermometers and barometers have long been the norm.

Mercury instrument procurement is already becoming expensive and will soon be impossible as manufacturers withdraw from the market.

Meanwhile, substituting mercury instruments with alternatives can come at significant cost and pose a risk to the homogeneity of data gathered unless properly planned.

Successfully transitioning away from the use of mercury requires careful implementation. To ensure a smooth transition to the post-mercury era, the WMO is committed to seeing the progressive replacement of these instruments before 2020 and has issued guidelines to help NMHSs, which include: • Involving participatory stakeholders in the observing network; • Identifying replacement instruments meeting national performance requirements; • Conducting comparative study to ensure the effectiveness of alternative devices; • The safe removal and disposal of mercury measuring devices in accordance with national procedures; and • Periodic maintenance and calibration in accordance with WMO and manufacturer guidelines.

A new generation of digital barometers, thermometers and hygrometers can provide NMHSs with economical, accurate and reliable alternatives to mercury-based instruments. They also offer improvements such as internal data storage and real-time data display (for one example, see page 64).

✛ www.mercuryconvention.org

Guidance on replacing mercury-based instruments by 2020

Thermometers and barometers affected • Psychrometric (hygrometric) thermometers used for ambient air temperature • ‘Wet bulb’ measurements to calculate relative humidity • Maximum thermometers • Soil temperature thermometers • Kew station barometers (used mainly at airports) • Fortin barometers (used mainly at airports) • Bench standard barometers (used for verifying calibration of Kew station and Fortin barometers) NB: Minimum thermometers have always been non-mercury so are not affected

Finding the right replacement It is essential that any mercury-replacement instrument conforms with WMO specifications.

Keeping data homogeneity with existing records is also vital, so the new instruments must be correctly calibrated or the NMHS risks ruining long-period data sets.

Ideally, the new instrument will emulate the existing instrument’s observation routine, minimising retraining. It will also hopefully be capable of sensor expansion and not require local reconfiguration.

The instrument must be also robust and weatherproof (including the display), and the units and sensors should be easily swappable and calibratable in the field. Low power operation is also a vital so replacement instruments should rely on a solar cell or battery power supply and have a minimum life span of 10 years.

Ideally, the provider of the new instrument will retrofit existing screens to minimise exposure change as well as cost. Optional sub-daily logging capability would also be an attractive feature.

For NMHSs with limited resources, cost is always a key decision factor as they strive to fund and maintain the expansion and evolution of their networks. But with 2020 approaching quickly, choosing Minamata-compliant instruments that can slot seamlessly into existing systems without threatening data quality is an important process that should not be overlooked. ✛ Author: Paul Copping, Managing Director, Fairmount Weather Systems

Now available with

MERCURY FREE TEMPERATURE AND BAROMETRIC PRESSURE MEASUREMENT • Compliant with United Nations Minamata Convention legislation and WMO CIMO specifications

• Options for both air and soil temperature measurements and additional sensor types – expandable over time

• Displays and data logs wet and dry bulb, maximum and minimum air temperatures and relative humidity, replacing all 4 thermometers in existing screen.

• Minimum power requirements – operates from solar cell + battery

• Proven accuracy and compatibility with legacy measurement methods in field trials

• Aspirated and Telemetry options available on request

• Now with fast response PT100 sensors

Email: paul@fairmountweather.com Tel: +44 (0) 1763 263415

www.fairmountweather.com

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Drought monitoring for a stable society

Flickr/Caron

Droughts can have dire economic, social and political consequences. Throughout history, issues surrounding water security have been clearly linked to national security challenges, including civil unrest, conflict and war. As such, the timely and accurate monitoring of drought is imperative to mitigating these challenges on both regional and global scales.

Drought-induced crop failure creates water insecurity which can develop into national security crises. Drought reduces crop yields, which can decrease market supply and increase the price of food, eroding household food security. Notably, the Arab Spring, a period of violent anti-government protests during 2011 in the Middle East and North Africa, coincided with surges in the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s global food price index.

While the causes of the Arab Spring and other periods of public uprising are complicated, there is growing evidence to suggest that high food prices play a contributing role. Early drought detection and monitoring efforts can play a decisive role in effective crop supply management in order to stabilise foods prices and abate social unrest.

Considering that droughts vary greatly in duration, severity, and complexity, management efforts must be tailored to the affected region and are contingent upon timely access to information. However, in the absence of sophisticated monitoring efforts, identifying and managing extreme weather events, such as drought, can pose substantial challenges for policymakers.

Research suggests elevated food prices may have contributed to civil unrest during the Arab Spring of 2011

✛ www.thinkcds.org

Equipping governments to identify and prepare for weather events before they strike has wide-reaching implications, both economically and socially

In the 1980 coup d’etat in the Republic of Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso, drought-induced famine triggered widespread social unrest, and ultimately, regime change. The decade running up to the coup was the driest on record for the Sahelian region of northern Africa, and Burkina Faso is highly sensitive to drought given that a third of GDP and 80% of its population depend on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods (according to USAID).

Notably, Burkina Faso is particularly dependent on cotton, a water-intensive cash crop that exacerbated the impact of this drought. At the time, traditional drought monitoring methods produced an inaccurate understanding of the weather patterns in the region, hindering drought management efforts.

Moreover, the agrarian nation did not have the information necessary to anticipate the length and severity of drought and as a result, many human and livestock lives were lost to famine.

Monitoring methods Traditionally, drought monitoring methods have relied on ground-based weather stations, which directly record precipitation, humidity, temperature and other meteorological data. Using such methods, information about a drought’s spatial extent and severity is limited by the distribution and density of the weather station network.

Furthermore, these networks often suffer from inconsistencies between stations such as differing instruments, record lengths, and accuracy issues.

Advances in satellite remote sensing (RS) have improved our ability to monitor drought onset, severity, and duration with improved spatial and temporal resolutions, including for regions that are inaccessible or otherwise poorly covered by on-ground stations. Furthermore, RS data is usually made available online and in near real time, offering significant time, cost and labour savings compared to traditional drought assessments.

Hundreds of earth observation satellites now exist, which carry a diverse range of RS sensors including multispectral/hyperspectral electromagnetic spectrum sensors, laser altimeter, and active microwave sensors. Earth scientists can use satellite-derived data to monitor vegetation health, as well as vegetation stress conditions such as precipitation, surface temperature, soil

✛ Capacity-building

moisture, groundwater and evapotranspiration (the transfer of water and energy from a plant to the atmosphere).

Understanding drought precursor conditions is fundamental to effective and timely emergency response, such as a regional call to harvest early.

Different plants emit unique spectral signals based on how they absorb and re-emit the sun’s energy across different electromagnetic wavelengths. By detecting these spectral signals, RS enables scientists to distinguish between plant species and make inferences about health and growth cycle stage.

Spectral satellites — including MODIS and Landsat — orbit the earth, repeatedly measuring the reflectance of thousands of land-surface pixels. The Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the most common vegetation index used to analyse plant health. The NDVI considers the relationship between a plant’s red and near-infrared (NIR) signal and can thus infers the plant’s condition. The degree to which the value diverges from the historical average for that month indicates the level of drought severity.

Despite the popularity of the NDVI and other vegetation indexes, several studies have highlighted the lagged response of vegetation to drought conditions. So, while vegetation indexes provide useful information about the severity and duration of a drought, they are not as helpful for predicting the onset of droughts themselves. For this reason, the observation of drought precursor information can be insightful, most notably precipitation and surface temperature data.

Using RS technologies, policymakers are poised to mitigate the impacts of drought through the development of timely and well-informed drought management strategies.

USAID’s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) uses RS to support early drought detection for sub-Saharan Africa, Afghanistan, Central America and Haiti. Using a combination of vegetation stress indicators, vegetation health indexes, and weather modelling, FEWS NET detects the early signs of drought and forecasts the corresponding implications on a regional scale. The monitoring network uses this data to forecast food supply issues and regional food insecurity. With this information, policymakers can

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For regions dependent on agriculture, droughts can have serious social and economic consequences

Flickr/Louis Darrien II. Soriano/ WMO

✛ www.thinkcds.org

plan for drought by managing the related agricultural consequences.

Similarly, the United States Department of Agriculture also uses RS to inform its Drought Early Warning Systems (DEWS). DEWS equips policymakers with early warning signs, and aims to support informed local decision-making regarding the management of water resources during droughts . By developing an early drought management strategy, policymakers can increase regional drought resilience by mitigating the economic and social losses associated with drought.

Climate change is expected to shift global weather patterns in a way that is spatially and temporally dynamic, and this is likely to profoundly disrupt traditional agricultural systems. As a result, it is critical that policymakers understand how regional drought susceptibility will evolve as a result.

As temperatures rise and rainfall declines, many regions will be increasingly susceptible to periods of drought. For many regions with growing populations and a dependence on agriculture, a drier climate could confer serious social and economic consequences. In order to understand the shifts associated with a changing climate, sophisticated drought modelling will be essential for the predicting, understanding and management of drought. ✛ Authors: Frederick Taylor & Hannah Rundle, Center for Development & Strategy

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✛ Capacity-building

Women in hydro-meteorology Over the past several years, there has been a concerted effort to increase the percentage of women in leadership roles both within the WMO and the broader industry, and the WMO has been providing training and leadership workshops for women in meteorology. The result has been double digit growth in female representation at these programmes.

The WMO Commission of Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM) has also committed to, and exceeded, 50% female representation in the current CAgM management group. This is significant, as the percentage of female weathercasters in developed markets such as the US is still currently only around 30%; in leadership positions the numbers are lower.

A different approach There are many indirect benefits to encouraging female leadership in the industry - particularly in developing regions.

A large body of research has accumulated over the past few decades on the differences in male and female leadership styles. For the interest of this discussion, we will focus on female leadership traits.

Women tend to be consensus builders, rational thinkers and connectors. They have strong analytical skills, and are good at both multitasking and problem solving. When working with teams, women tend to be motivational, empathetic and transformation or development-oriented.

Women are change agents.

Bringing women’s innate leadership abilities forward in the meteorological community has the

Flickr/WMO

Training at the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology

✛ www.comptus.com

Women are change agents for the greater good. Greater gender inclusion can only strengthen climate resilience and disaster risk frameworks

Women delegates at the 2019 HydroMet Africa conference and exhibition in Cairo, Egypt

potential to be game changing for both the regions they serve, and to the industry as a whole. Many developing regions do not have well established hydro-met infrastructures, particularly across borders. By bringing women together, as the WMO is doing, the opportunities to collaborate to tackle the challenges around hydro-met infrastructure will increase.

As consensus builders, women are more likely to look for ways to bridge traditional divides to accomplish mutually beneficial goals. Inter-departmental, ministerial and even geophysical boundaries stand to benefit from the co-operative nature of women.

In addition to their careers, women continue to hold the majority of responsibilities for their households and child rearing. They tend to live close to the environments they monitor and often have a real world understanding of the impact of weather on communities.

By having access to greater opportunities throughout the meteorological industry, women can demonstrate to the children in their lives the virtue of education, the possibilities for personal attainment, and the potential to bring about real change in their communities and around the world.

Education and training At the 2019 HydroMet Africa conference and exhibition in Cairo, Egypt it was observed that a high number of attendees were female meteorologists. This was not a complete surprise, as the WMO is actively promoting women in leadership in

✛ www.comptus.com

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meteorology and had in fact begun the conference with a training programme specifically designed for women.

Several attendees at the conference expressed frustration at the lack of educational resources available to meteorologists in developing regions.

The WMO has a number of training programmes, but can only go so far.

Continuing education is critical 50% for professional development.

Female Challenges cited were impracrepresentation target tical travel distances to univermet by WMO CAgM sities, lack of online university programmes, personal and family commitments, and financial resources.

The women at the conference were clearly very motivated and passionate about both their industry and the communities in which they live and serve.

There is an excellent opportunity to leverage the passion and drive of the women meteorologists in

RA-I Women’s Leadership Workshop, Cairo 2019 (Courtesy WMO)

developing regions to affect real change.

The gap of continuing education can be filled with online programmes through partner universities.

Internships and collaboration for students will lead to research projects and increased awareness of environmental concerns around the globe.

Developing regions will benefit from shared best practices, and the field of meteorology will continue to grow and evolve where it is needed most benefitting all people. A rising tide lifts all boats. ✛ Author: Andrew White, President, Comptus

Women and disaster risk reduction Over the past decade, the practice of disaster risk management (DRM) has evolved and matured, from mainly focusing on disaster response to using preparedness and prevention to save lives and avoid losses before disaster strikes.

Yet despite this progress, there’s much more work to be done to ensure that DRM efforts respond to the particular needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls.

In no small part due to gender inequalities, women are both more vulnerable to natural hazards and less likely to benefit from relief and

recovery efforts than men.

Evidence shows that when DRM efforts take into account the differences in socio-cultural roles, norms, and values of men and women, the preparedness of the entire community is strengthened, and the number of deaths is reduced significantly.

In many countries around the world the DRM profession is very male dominated. This may bias the types of policies and programme design responses that are developed within those countries’ disaster risk frameworks.

The work women do in

many countries is often informal, making it harder for women to access certain types of formal social protection or relief programme.

These women are usually lower earners than men and tend not to own property that can be used as collateral. They may therefore not have access to credit or be able to build up savings to help them absorb shocks if disaster strikes.

In the wake of disasters, women’s care-giving responsibilities often increase due to their historic roles, but they may not have access to additional resources to

help them.

There are many good examples from around the world, in places such as the Philippines and Indonesia, where women’s leadership is starting to be harnessed and community networks are being mobilised, and we need to make sure we encourage and accelerate this process.

It’s important for the DRM sector to harness and accelerate these community-level movements so that they can become the new norm.

Caren Grown, Senior Director for Gender, World Bank Group

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16/05/2019 10:50

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✛ Capacity-building

Cost-effective sourcing Many developing regions are home to disproportionately large populations, but their access to critical hydro-meteorological monitoring data falls short.

The challenge for developing nations and their leaders is to find cost-effective methods to gather the necessary information to make informed decisions. This is not easy when many countries struggle with limited resources and/or a lack of technical product knowledge. Another challenge is the ability to maintain existing sensor network infrastructures, equipment and the data collected.

Decision-making is further aggravated by the effects of climate change. High seasonal resource variability in many areas is becoming more pronounced because of more extreme weather events. Much-needed rain events come too suddenly, for example, putting lives in danger and disrupting infrastructure projects.

Economic backing is available, but then comes the challenge of accessing the right resources and equipment to put the necessary systems into place.

How to choose the right solutions You have a plan and access to some resources, but where to turn? And how to choose the best hydro-meteorological equipment and services needed to improve data collection and reporting?

To make the right choices, you must first understand your most critical infrastructure needs. Look for similar needs across your infrastructure (transportation, energy, agriculture and communication) and identify common power, signal/communication and data platforms.

Determine what formats and technologies will work best for your needs, and consider the human resources needed for the deployment and ongoing operation and management of the system.

Research is vital. Attending hydromet conferences and exhibitions will help you gain knowledge and allow you to spend time with peers and vendors.

Talk with other agencies and departments that have similar needs, read industry publications and conduct online research to ensure you understand your own requirements before engaging potential suppliers.

Create a checklist of key elements of systems

Advice for NMHSs and buyers on how to find the right products, solutions and partners for their specific needs

Andrew White (left), says attending hydromet conferences and exhibitions will help you gain knowledge

“Do not be distracted by features and benefits you do not need; this may lead to ‘scope creep’ and add excessive cost” that you need. Have your checklist available at trade shows and when talking to vendors. Ask the same questions of every vendor so that you can compare their services and products to your checklist later.

Vendors are at trade shows to sell. Probe to make sure you understand whether what they are offering fits your needs. Do not be distracted by features and benefits you do not need; this may lead to “scope creep” and may add excessive cost to your system. All-in-one solutions are not always the best.

If a vendor is not answering your questions clearly or does not appear to understand what your needs are, step away and collect your thoughts.

Take time between visits with vendors to make detailed notes and review the information you have received. Review your checklist and verify if you are getting the information you need. Then go back and try again.

If you continue to feel that there is a disconnect between what you need and what a vendor is offering, make a note and move on.

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✛ www.comptus.com

Look for vendors that have support resources within your region, or that can readily respond with replacement parts and/or technical assistance.

Place tenders through regional, international and industry groups, and work with funding agencies to identify bid placement channels.

These independent organisations can help steer you towards trusted vendors that are right for you, saving you time and resources.

Data ownership It is important to determine whether you want to manage and ‘own’ your data locally, or to share the data with your supplier.

Knowing your agency or state policy on data management is vital, as is understanding the pros and cons of remote versus local storage of data. Are power or communication disruptions a concern, for example? Is online connectivity robust and secure?

Many cloud-based systems are available through lease or subscription. Often data stored in the cloud becomes the property of the vendor and may become part of a larger dataset - meaning others benefit from your data and if a contract is terminated, your access to historical data may be lost.

One benefit of using cloud-based systems is ongoing updates and fixes do not need to be managed by the user, as vendors should automatically push software updates and patches down to the users.

Cloud-based subscription services are, however, subject to price increases at each contract renewal, so make sure you are aware of all service fees and add-on charges and be prepared to negotiate for pricing guarantees or longer-term contracts.

Make sure you know what reporting and output

Have your checklist available at trade shows and when talking to vendors

information you will need, and what will be available to you. Vendor systems may have proprietary software and provide a limited number of standard reports. Requesting additional reports or data downloads may cost extra.

Also be aware that subscribing with a vendor may make it difficult to integrate other products into the system as sometimes you may only be able to use components and equipment from that one vendor.

If your state or agency policy dictates, and you have the resources to manage your system and data, you will have control over your data. System updates will be your responsibility, and you will have to manage your data infrastructure.

In this instance, there will be less risk of subscription pricing increases, and you may also be able to integrate components from several different suppliers. This will allow you to create a system that is tailored to your specific requirements. Local control also provides employment opportunities. ✛ Author: Andrew White, President, Comptus

Cross-agency efficiencies Collaborating with fellow government departments/ agencies when buying equipment and solutions can bring significant cost savings. You may be able, for example, to consolidate

data across departments/ agencies to aggregate information and provide macro-level information for analysis and action. There may also be cost benefits to cross-agency/department

equipment procurement.

Purchasing equipment together leads to cost-effective bidding due to the ability to bulk purchase equipment. If it makes practical sense,

using a single source for parts and service will also extend the service life of the equipment, reduce technical training costs and allow for easier transfer of systems knowledge.

✛ www.varysian.com

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Capacity Roadmap

Building sustainable networks through partnership and collaboration current and suggested approaches as perceived by vendors

Design

Sustainable design •Build life cycle costs including maintenance & replacements •Low-energy, low-maintenance instruments •Project champions to oversee execution •Open dialogue between NMHS & suppliers •Succession planning & NMHS training (skills transfer) •Community involvement for low-cost remote observation Individual accountability • Set timetable for targets & expenditure • Expand in stages

Optimised funding • Articulate networks’ GDP/societal value to governments • Transparency & coordination between IFIs • Timetabled budget & accountability to reduce waste

Enhanced data quality

Efficient procurement • Consult technical experts (including private sector) • Identify specific NMHS needs & solutions to address them • Use HMEI tender specification standards • Consider lease or ‘Build-Operate-Maintain’ contracts rather than capital acquisition • Co-operation/sharing with government departments • Set realistic timelines

Execution

• Automatic, smart instruments observing in real time • Ongoing regular maintenance • Education on importance of traceability • Technical/product training by private sector • Calibration, recalibration, validation & instrument comparison • Identify uncertainty using standardised testing procedures • Use consistent language & units for comparability Accurate warnings

Data exchange • Use standardised language • Data-for-data exchange with private partners • System compatibility & integration

• Intuitive centralised workstations/ interfaces • Impact-based, multi-hazard, nowcasting, sub-seasonal • Collaboration/data sharing with industry (eg. aviation) • Mass communication via smartphones & local media • Multi-language capabilities

Sustainability

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Multi-industry solutions

35 Vaisala Accurate measurement and forecasting > 38 Delta OHM Improving recording ranges > 41 OTT Hydromet Weather and water monitoring networks > 44 MBW Calibration > Calibrating humidity measurement > 46 Comptus Environmental sensors

✛ www.vaisala.com

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✛ Multi-industry solutions

Accurate measurements and reliable forecasts

Every day, our lives are affected by weather and climate. Whether discussing evacuation plans and infrastructure planning or simple, everyday decision-making, natural disasters can change the planet, putting people and property at risk.

From hailstorms, droughts and severe winter weather to typhoons, hurricanes and floods, natural disasters impact every region across the globe — and their impact on the economy can be equally extreme. In 2017, there were 335 natural disaster events which affected more than 95 million people across the world, costing a total of $334bn.

Compounding the issue, the trend over the past three decades exhibits an increase in the number of hazard events and an increase in the number of affected populations globally.

While developed countries have much of this weather prediction infrastructure in place, many developing nations do not.

Without reliable meteorological and environmental infrastructure in place, these severe weather events will only continue to negatively impact a country’s ability to take action to keep its citizens, visitors and property safe from the ravages of extreme weather.

OBSERVATION SYSTEMS

MET OFFICE

OBSERVE & DETECT

WARN & ACT

PUBLIC & PRIVATE USERS

FORECASTS & WARNINGS

How meteorological capacity-building can help countries predict the unpredictable

Overview of hurricanes Irma, Jose and Katia by NASA

From weather observation equipment and forecasting software to training meteorologists to utilise that hardware and software, Vaisala’s meteorological capacity-building fundamentally improves the customer’s ability to provide essential weather- and climate-related warnings and services, thus helping to protect lives and property from natural hazards as well as helping to monitor and mitigate the effects of climate change. Beyond avoiding losses and saving lives, hydro-meteorological service benefits include increased productivity and efficiency in weather-sensitive sectors, such as agriculture and transportation.

Weather observation infrastructure In order to detect severe weather events early enough to take necessary actions, it is essential to have in place accurate and reliable observation systems that are guaranteed to work even in the harshest conditions. The reliability of these observations is translated into the reliability of the forecasts and warnings provided to the public.

Detecting and tracking of high-impact weather The combination of modern dual-polarization weather radars with lightning observation is the most effective way to observe and track precipitation-based, fast moving, high-impact events such as storms and flash floods. These dangerous events can potentially cause high monetary losses and loss of life, hence all early-warning services are extremely valuable for society.

Used in a variety of weather observation activities ranging from forecasting to road traffic management, automatic weather stations (AWS),

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✛ Multi-industry solutions

✛ www.vaisala.com

automated weather observing systems and sounding systems offer suites of sensors that can be mixed and matched for a variety of applications, whether mobile or fixed, for synoptic surface weather or hydrological observations.

Observation network management While the acquisition of information from several sources is necessary for ensuring good initial conditions and more accurate predictions, it is important to understand what the data is going to be used for.

Different observations require disparate measurements, and an automated network management system connects individual systems, sensors and devices, allowing NMHSs to easily monitor and control sites and access their weather observation data from anywhere.

Integrated management software allows NMHSs to collect and manage all observations from one centralised location and run remote diagnostics in order to optimise maintenance, ensuring high network uptime.

Forecasting Meaningful data is worthless without an effective way to present it. Having reliable, flexible and secure application software is therefore just as important as having each one of the components to produce the data; a meteorological forecast and service production system with the tools to utilise all available observation data, numerical weather predictions and nowcasting features is the piece needed to create actions from observations.

Vaisala’s expertise and resources have already helped develop and improve meteorological and

Star Beach on Phu Quoc island, Vietnam

Aerial view of the Bahama islands

environmental infrastructure and human capacity in countries like the Bahamas and Vietnam by supporting NMHSs in providing crucial weather and climate services. The projects have been created together with the national NMHSs and with the help of the Finnish Meteorological Institute in order to address local meteorological needs – in these cases, focusing heavily on upgrading the hurricane and cyclone detection and warning capacity.

In order to create a permanent upgrade in the customer’s capacity to provide meteorological services, a significant portion of training is included in all Vaisala capacity-building projects.

Customised training packages for all delivered systems ensure that the customer knows how to operate and maintain the deliverables, ensuring the sustainability of the investment.

Predict the unpredictable In spite of the unpredictable nature of weather and climate phenomena, technological advancements enabling better understanding, observations and numerical models are leading to improvements in the accuracy of weather and climate information.

Through weather observation equipment, integrated forecasting software and training customised to the needs of your country’s NMHS, Vaisala’s leading measurement systems enhance your capacity to detect, track and warn of hazardous weather events as well as to monitor climate change, minimising the loss of lives and property. ✛ Author: Anni Karttunen, Application Manager, Meteorological Capacity Building, Vaisala

OTT HydroMet provides valuable insights for experts in water and weather applications to help protect lives, the environment, and infrastructure

www.otthydromet.com

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✛ Multi-industry solutions

Winds of change

“The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved.” So said the great British architect Richard Rogers.

We like to imagine that these words were in our founder Pietro Masut’s mind as he made his contribution by forming Delta OHM 40 years ago in Padua, near Venice, Italy.

Over those past four decades, the environmental challenges facing the world have become increasingly complicated.

Phrases such as climate change, global warming, natural resource depletion, ocean acidification pollution, hurricanes or melting of the ice are being mentioned daily by almost everyone.

And we do not need to look far. Just last year in our home country of Italy, nearly three-quarters of Venice was flooded because of a storm system that brought strong winds, driving up water levels more than five feet in the lagoon city – with water levels reaching their highest point since 1979.

Is there anything we can do? There is only one way of being sure: we need to measure, we need to gather the data, we need to document and to analyse what is happening now. Only those able to grasp the changes can play a role in building sustainability and tackling the most important environmental challenges of our time.

In no other area does data collection take on such grave importance as in the field of environmental measuring technology. This is why our meteorological institutes need accurate and

Photo-radiometry laboratory – calibration pyranometer

✛ www.deltaohm.com/en

With extreme weather a growing concern, national weather services demand measuring devices that are more robust and possess greater recording ranges than ever before

Field tests at Delta OHM (here and opposite)

reliable equipment. They need to be sure that what they measure is the truth. Delta OHM is the partner for these institutes.

Our equipment is designed to measure exactly and requires low maintenance, year after year. And it is reliable and traceable to the highest standards according to WMO recommendations for technical construction.

Since the start, Delta OHM has dedicated itself to building a top-quality portfolio with the appropriate scientific expertise to drive the development of sustainable meteorological components forward every day.

In four decades Delta OHM – part of the GHM GROUP since 2015 – has become one of the leading innovators in the field of meteorology and, through our worldwide network, we supply and service our solutions everywhere on the globe.

Are we unique in what we do? No, not unique, just better. We control the complete production cycle of all our products, starting from research and development to final packing for delivery.

Everything is conducted from one centralised location – our production facilities and HQ in Padua, Italy.

Our own calibration center, which is accredited to ISO17025 standard, allows us to research, test and produce all our products in-house, and this gives us a distinctive advantage over our competitors.

The recommendations of the WMO are important guidelines in this process.

✛ www.deltaohm.com/en

✛ Multi-industry solutions

Meeting demand In the field of meteorology, Delta OHM’s most important customer base is national weather services and their offshoots. Our in-house research and development facilities mean Delta OHM is able to respond swiftly to the needs of this customer base, which is becoming more demanding in response to the effects of climate change.

The biggest demand is for devices that can record greater extremes, especially when it comes to wind and precipitation measurements.

In these fields, the requested range is creeping higher and higher. The new HD51 2-axes ultrasonic anemometer series is an example of this trend.

Delta OHM already had a wide range of wind measurement solutions but the need was to create a more complete and robust solution, capable of reaching very high performance. Like earlier anemometer models, the HD51 uses ultrasound to measure wind speed. Ultrasound eliminates the use of moving parts which means that the anemometers can be installed without the need for future maintenance. This is an important development given the fact that they are often located in remote locations such as offshore wind turbines.

Where the new anemometer departs from its predecessors, however, is in its range and robustness. Delta OHM has introduced two new models in this series, capable of withstanding wind speeds up to 100 meters per second (m/s).

One is a version made from a durable anodised aluminum alloy with integrated heating system that allows it to be used in a broad temperature range.

Very rugged, very stable, it is designed to be used in very harsh situations. It measures accurately up to 80m/sec and is MIL-STD810G compliant.

Another version introduced in this series has a measuring range up to 85m/sec. It is designed for use in all applications where a high wind range combined with high accuracy is necessary, but where a wide temperature range is of less importance.

Delta OHM keeps on innovating. It is our drive.

Serial communication Next to the standard analog outputs, practically all our measuring devises have the possibility for serial communication. The whole range of 2D and

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3D ultrasonic anemometers, including the new HD51 series, communicate as ‘plug & play’ with the Delta OHM range of IoT-capable data logging devices.

This range of loggers is the logical result of all other developments that we have introduced.

Measuring data is one thing; gathering the data, transferring it and keeping it at a secured location is the other part of it.

Delta OHM supplies a wide range of loggers.

Specifically for the meteorological market, we provide compact solutions in all-weather housing designed to operate on solar power, in combination with our anemometers and/or rain gauges as complete stand-alone and independent automatic weather stations.

Using our Delta OHM cloud solution, real-time data can be viewed on any device. When an application needs to be local, we can supply the software to store all your measurements in a secured database on your own server.

Both the loggers and the new anemometer are examples of Delta OHM’s direct response to the demands of the market and the company’s scrupulousness in paying close attention to the needs of its customers. ✛ Author: Heerco Walinga, Business Development Manager, Delta OHM

Sparv Embedded Fill the gaps in boundary layer data Miniature radiosonde Windsond • Real-time wind, temperature and humidity profiles up to 7-9 km • 12 gram sondes and 8-20 gram balloons • Extreme mobility: Down to 30 liters of gas • Up to 8 simultaneous soundings per receiver, customizable up to 120 • Reusable sondes as option for best economy • Predict and control landing location • User-friendly ground station software

Drone instrumentation Sparvio • Professional measurements from your own UAV • Range of plug-and-play sensors. CO2, PM, CH4, winds, and many more.

• Telemetry and logging • Extremely flexible • Start immediate measurements without any further integration • Lightweight sensors for low payload

Too often the ever-changing state of the lower atmosphere remains unknown, due to cost and inconvenience.

We enable in-situ measurements at any place, anytime.

USB | BLUETOOTH | ETHERNET | WINDOWS | ANDROID

Sparv Embedded AB Linköping, Sweden Phone: +46-707-312608 info@sparvembedded.com windsond.com

✛ www.otthydromet.com

Insights for experts OTT HydroMet provides valuable insights for experts in water and weather applications to help protect lives, the environment and infrastructure.

OTT goes beyond simply providing solutions by partnering with its customers in designing effective answers to the challenges they face in their vital role of monitoring the world’s water and surface weather.

When you choose to work with OTT HydroMet, you’re also working with more than 500 years of combined expertise across seven strong brands that have come together to provide reliability and sustainability for monitoring networks.

OTT’s global team leverages decades of expertise from each market to shape modern technologies, engineering and applications. It combines globalised innovation with tailored expert service and break local barriers by listening to your unique needs, so you can have better trust and confidence in your data for both water and weather applications.

OTT HydroMet offers one-stop-shopping and integrated solutions to make it easy for users – whether they are NMHSs, federal environmental organisations or from industry.

OTT HydroMet brands The product portfolio of OTT and Sutron ranges from single sensor solutions to country-wide measuring networks, incorporating measurements of precipitation, discharge, water quality and water levels, as well as remote communications.

It provides customised monitoring and control solutions for applications involving weather, floods, coastal monitoring and tides, water level, water quality, dams, irrigation, rainfall and extreme and remote environments.

OTT HydroMet solutions Including, but not limited to: • Sensors and sondes • Dataloggers and controllers • Data logger peripherals and I/O modules • Communications and telemetry • Web hosting and visualisation • Software and data management

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✛ Multi-industry solutions

OTT HydroMet harnesses 500 years of experience to offer a comprehensive suite of water and weather monitoring network solutions

WMO/NOAA-compliant monitoring stations include advanced data-handling and telemetry, Wi-Fi and multiple simultaneous communications via iridium and geostationary satellites, IP, radio and cellular.

ADCON focuses on telemetry solutions, based on its own ultra low-power radio technology and GSM/GPRS/UMTS modems, both being integrated into the range of loggers.

What makes the ADCON solution unique is a range of unrivalled product features: • Extremely low power consumption, using the smallest solar panels in the industry.

• Extremely high receiver sensitivity, resulting in very high transmission distances.

• The networking capability of each long-range station, which can at the same time function as relay for others.

• The integration of all of these devices into one Telemetry Gateway, that can manage all of them.

• Powerful SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software, collecting, distributing, storing, processing and visualising the data.

HYDROLAB water quality instruments and software help environmental scientists and managers monitor the increasingly important changes in our water resources by providing continuous water quality data, reliability, and usability.

Lufft develops and supplies professional components and systems for climate and environment measurement.

Lufft’s smart meteorological and traffic weather sensors are used in networks along roads, rails, at airports and solar systems all over the world for measuring atmospheric pressure, temperature, relative humidity and other environmental factors.

Kipp & Zonen provides class-leading instruments for measuring solar radiation and atmospheric properties in meteorology, climatology, hydrology, industry, renewable energy, agriculture and public health.

Outstanding expertise and close links with the scientific community have led to high-end solutions for the measurement of atmospheric properties such as stratospheric ozone, UV spectra, aerosols, temperature profiles,

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✛ Multi-industry solutions

evapo-transpiration, cloud properties and the ground-truthing of satellite data.

All-in-one weather sensors from Lufft combined with pyranometers from Kipp & Zonen are the perfect match to create a professional solar monitoring system.

MeteoStar is a global leader in the environmental analysis, display and integration/distribution systems market.

In 2013, Total Lightning Network, the largest lightning network providing long-range detection of both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning, teamed with MeteoStar to provide global lightning information into MeteoStar’s LEADS product, enhancing visibility into dangerous lightning and severe storm events for improved situational awareness.

Together as OTT HydroMet, these brands combine highly innovative companies with measuring systems for hydrology, meteorology and environmental monitoring. Each global team provides

✛ www.otthydromet.com

“Our global team leverages decades of expertise from each market to shape modern technologies, engineering and applications” sustainable solutions that go beyond the expectations of hydrology and meteorology professionals.

OTT provides local and technical expertise across your data value chain and move across brands with ease as OTT builds your entire system together.

OTT works to create an end-to-end global network so you can focus on making informed decisions, allowing you to better manage the world’s water resources, forecast surface weather and protect the environment and lives. ✛ Author: Helmut Hohenstein, Regional MarCom Manager, EMEA/APAC, OTT HydroMet

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Humidity measurement and calibration Increasing focus on atmospheric water vapour concentration and its implication in diverse fields of climatic research and meteorology has led to increased scrutiny of the precision and reliability of humidity measurement data. Climatic water vapour is one of the more challenging aspects of meteorology, with unreliable results, variability of units and non-traceable calibration obvious issues.

Humidity measurements are often considered unreliable or specified with quite large ‘tolerances’.

Often this position is based on an underestimation of the measurement challenges, a lack of fundamental knowledge of humidity and inadequate calibration regimes. Humidity is also often incorrectly described (as ‘moisture’, ‘humidity’, ‘dew point’ or ‘relative humidity’, for example).

Current technology continues to improve measurement and calibration capability, but there remains a need for education and training.

Methods and practices vary considerably between NMHSs, especially in developing economies where reliable climatic data would be very useful.

Many organisations are unable to provide even the most basic calibration services or measurement traceability that other well-regulated industries take for granted. Calibration at working temperature is one such example, definition of calibration uncertainty another.

There is also a cost implication. In many cases, instruments are only ‘maintained’ when there is a perceived failure of the measured data. The solution is typically replacement, often at significant cost. Routine and local maintenance would enable the NMHS to maintain measurement performance and identify issues before complete failure occurs.

Is humidity measurement really so difficult?

Unlike other key measurements such as temperature and pressure, humidity sensors cannot be protected from the measured conditions by membranes, sheaths or other protective barriers. Some mechanical filtration can be applied to limit particulate contamination, but these do not protect humidity sensors from contaminants such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides which will cause degradation and instability in the measurement sensor.

✛ www.mbw.ch

The need for more precise humidity data is challenging both manufacturers and users to better measurement technology and enhanced calibration capability

Consequently, RH probes will drift at varying rates depending on their type, installation-specific contamination, variation in humidity and temperature conditions and maintenance, so their calibration must be verified on a routine basis.

Surface observation systems, typically weather stations or screen assemblies are widely used.

Stated measurement performance will be typically based on manufacturer specifications rather than calculated uncertainties. Typical uncertainty contributions are shown in the calibration example below, but recent studies have shown significant effects attributable to wind speed during measurements and mounting shield design.

Radiosondes are required to measure over a substantial temperature and humidity range within the same flight. To determine full system performance the sensors should be tested over a wide range of humidity and temperature conditions which more accurately simulates their use.

However, this is often considered too expensive.

Consequentially the sensors are often calibrated at only a limited number of temperature and humidity points, resulting in inconsistency and un-proven traceability when used outside of the calibrated range. The better manufacturers invest substantially more in calibration, and it is no coincidence that their products are more widely trusted and perform consistently in inter-comparisons.

Humidity calibration uncertainty?

Improved standardisation could go a long way to resolving many of the uncertainties. The ideal method of defining the precision of any measurement or generated condition is an assignment of uncertainty. The Guide to Uncertainty of Measurement (GUM) is the reference for metrologists; its structured approach can provide a means of validation or a more dependable comparison of data. An uncertainty budget combines the individual components of uncertainty to resolve an expanded uncertainty of measurement or a generated value (see table).

In a typical weather station relative humidity measurement application, additional uncertainty components such as shield temperature effects, together with airflow, filter and contamination effects would need to be included.

✛ www.mbw.ch

✛ Multi-industry solutions

Any chosen method of generating stable humidity conditions should be assessed in terms of its expanded uncertainty and based on a true evaluation, not just what the manufacturer claims.

It’s also worth considering the need for the calibration of temperature measurement, and the calibration of humidity at the instrumentation’s working condition within any evaluation.

Humidity measurement performance varies with temperature, so it’s not really effective to calibrate only at one temperature, especially

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when field measurements are at low temperatures.

National metrology institutes (NMIs) provide the best source of advice and transfer standard calibration. If humidity calibration or uncertainty is a cause for concern, contact a reputable supplier, your local NMI or an accredited calibration laboratory for guidance. ✛ Author: Robin Farley, Business Development Director, MBW Calibration

Humidity calibration methods Listed in order of their capability to provide the best calibration uncertainty and their practicality.

Two pressure generators Most NMIs operate a primary humidity generator based on this fundamental principle using pressure and temperature control and measurement to provide direct traceability to SI units.

These are usually customised and characterised by the NMI, so require significant operational expertise and fundamental knowledge to achieve the best results. But there are commercially available automated generators that provide practical and cost-effective solutions, and some include temperature-controlled chambers so that calibration at temperature can be performed.

The 2900 System – a two pressure generator

Humiwell – a mixed flow generator

Mixed flow generators By mixing flows of wet and dry air it is possible to generate humidity conditions over a wide range. In the relative humidity range, the process can be automatically controlled. Commercially available systems are capable of stable control over a wide temperature range (0-60°C). Compact RH generators must have good temperature control to achieve best calibration capability and with the use of a transfer standard, RH and temperature calibration can be performed in the same system.

Climatic chambers Temperature and humidity-controlled chambers are in widespread use for testing products over varying conditions. Typical performance is adequate for climatic testing, but for calibration tasks, optimised versions are increasingly available. However, these do depend on the application of careful

temperature measurement and a calibrated humidity transfer standard.

The non-uniformity of the chamber temperature must be evaluated for best results.

Salt solutions Saturated and non-saturated salt solutions remain a practical low-cost method but their performance depends on stable temperature and a pre-calibration of the salt or validation of its generated value using a transfer standard. Uncertainties tend to be higher and their use is probably best suited for temperature-controlled laboratories.

Transfer standards Within a calibration system it is usual for a transfer standard to be applied to verify generated conditions and to provide traceability. These should be of a standard higher than the systems being calibrated (an RH probe shouldn’t be used as a transfer standard for another RH probe, for example). An evaluation of specifications and calibration performance within the structure of an uncertainty budget will support the correct specification of the type of transfer standard to use or specify.

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The sensors behind the solutions Comptus is a full-range supplier of environmental sensing technologies to commercial and industrial markets around the world.

Its product line includes mechanical and ultrasonic wind speed and direction sensors, rainfall, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, solar radiation, PM 2.5, PM10, H2S, SO2, NO, NO2, O3, CO, submersible and radar ultrasonic liquid level, EC and salinity, and dissolved oxygen sensors.

The A75-104 (sine wave), A75-101 (reed switch) and A75-302 wind vane are proven sensors for use in wind energy site assessment and all standard environmental monitoring applications and are fully compatible with all industry recognised data loggers and weather stations.

Comptus is the original equipment manufacturer for the well-known Second Wind and Vaisala C3 Anemometer and PV1 Wind Vane (the A75-104 and A75-302 are the Comptus equivalent products). Comptus anemometers are available either calibrated or non-calibrated.

Comptus’ wind tunnel partners include IAS Accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 and Measnet.

The Comptus C44 and C47 wind alarm controllers are used in a wide range of applications for automatic lockout and control of equipment during threshold wind events. The C44 is a two set point wind speed alarm, and the C47 is a four set point wind alarm. The C47 can be configured for both wind speed and direction, and signal output.

The Comptus 2304 tipping bucket rain gauge is a stainless steel enclosure with a pulse output.

The unit may be connected directly to a pulse counter, or it may be connected to the Comptus A70-R translator board to produce a 4-20mA output.

MeteoHelix (left), and MeteoWind2 (right)

✛ www.comptus.com

Comptus supplies sensing equipment to many of the world’s leading hydromet providers

Comptus A75-104 anemometer (above), and Comptus A75-302 wind direction vane (right)

Comptus manufactures barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction temperature and relative humidity transmitters for connection to data loggers or controllers. In addition, it carries several products for resale including ultrasonic weather stations, air quality monitoring stations and a wide range of temperature, humidity and pressure transmitters and radiation shields.

Strategic partnership In early 2019, Comptus began a strategic partnership with BARANI DESIGN Technologies of Slovakia. The companies are working together to develop low-cost wireless wind measurement solutions targeted at the middle and high-end agricultural weather station market segments.

Comptus is now a US and worldwide distributor and integrator of BARANI DESIGN anemometers, weather stations and sensors. BARANI DESIGN is now a worldwide distributor of the Comptus A75-101 & A75-104 anemometers and A75-302 wind direction vane.

The BARANI DESIGN MeteoShield Professional will be available in a made-in-USA version. MeteoHelix IoT Pro micro weather stations will also be available in an assembled-in-USA version for LoRaWan, Sigfox and NB-IoT wireless networks. ✛ Author: Andrew White, President, Comptus

Monitoring

03

49 Barani Design Technologies Big data versus accurate data > 52 Campbell Scientific Sustainable hydro-met networks > 54 FT Technologies Reading wind in tough conditions > 56 Sparv Embedded Low-cost mobile sounding > 59 Anemoment Wind measurement > 60 Comet Project 3D-printed weather stations > 62 En-Sci Ozone and water vapour sondes > 63 Vaisala Meteorology for air quality > 64 Fairmount Weather Systems Non-mercury instruments

✛ www.baranidesign.com

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✛ Monitoring

Big data vs accurate data In meteorological weather prediction, every student of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) knows that one cannot obtain any relevant levels of accuracy without accurate boundary conditions (input data), which equates to accurate, surface, near surface and upper air meteorological data.

Above every square metre of ground there is over 7,000kg of air in the troposphere alone. Troposphere is where weather happens. It also contains 99% of all atmospheric water vapor, and most of the mass and energy of the whole atmosphere.

The amount of energy trapped in the troposphere is striking. On a 37°C summer day with 95% relative humidity (RH) just one kilogram of air contains about 137kJ of energy. A +3°C error in air temperature reading due to inadequate solar shielding will erroneously increase this figure a whopping 16% to about 159kJ/kg. A large 5% RH deviation will only cause one fourth the error.

Applying even a fraction of this error to boundary conditions of a CFD weather model of the local troposphere will lead to uncorrectable errors in numerical simulation and erroneous results and forecasts.

Having worked on wing design for a company which arguably makes the most efficient airplanes in the world, I had a first-hand look at complexity of numerical fluid simulations and their susceptibility to error. Results from numerical weather

Garbage in = garbage out: the first law of numerical simulation

ezMETAR airport installation

prediction models require validation. Just like airplane companies and even Formula 1 use wind tunnels to validate their CFD simulations, meteorologists validate with surface, near surface and upper air meteorological data.

Yet there is one big difference. The meteorological weather prediction models have much more complex inputs and boundary conditions, thus more chance for error. Unfortunately, false validation seems to be a trend as many meteorologists love to claim high weather forecast accuracies. I think we all intuitively realise the reality in weather critical situations is quite different.

Any data or no-data?

Is misleading information better than no information? These days anyone can generate data.

New technology trends Micro-weather stations to WMO standards New Internet of Things (IoT) wireless technologies are bringing a revolution to AWOS design. Based on the helical solar shield design, a new high-precision microweather station called MeteoHelix IoT Pro is now able to deliver accuracies meeting WMO standards in all weather conditions.

Despite claims, this was not possible for any other current generation technologies in all-in-one weather stations.

The future of affordable METAR The increase in electronics reliability and processing

power has enabled the launch a new ezAWOS weather station that generates not only

MeteoHelix IoT Pro micro weather station

Auto-METAR, but also SPECI reports automatically every half hour, wirelessly.

Using field proven sensors and LTE/GSM data logger complemented by robust power and lightning protection, affords these ezMETAR systems the promise of revolutionising small VFR airport operations worldwide with their reliability, affordability and precision, while offering expandability and customisability for even IFR operations.

✛ Monitoring

A middle school student learning meteorology can slap together an ultra-sonic anemometer under a rain bucket with an exposed temperature sensor and pretend to produce quality data by compensating gross air temperature errors with a simple equation.

While many computer scientists will claim that they can filter data and that artificial intelligence (AI) can learn to weed out bad data, one may ask, based on what data did this AI learn what is good-quality data and what is not? While many people see AI and its capabilities in magical terms, anyone who has worked closely with it will know it has its limitations and can easily reach wrong conclusions and deduce misleading relationships.

To what degree is accuracy important?

Our economies are most susceptible to extreme weather. That’s when weather predictions really count. Huricanes, cyclones, tornadoes, hail and twisters are phenomenon that feed on energy of warm air masses where air temperature errors are most significant.

Over the years, as sensor technology improved, radiation shield design stagnated. We have reached the point where 70% to 90% of air temperature error is due to solar shielding from multi-plate solar shields. This shield error can reach as high as +3°C in strong sun, an unacceptable 16% error in atmospheric energy. It is the main reason why a solar radiation shield is the single most important component for quality atmospheric air temperature measurement. Fortunately, it is also the most affordable.

Recent advances in design and manufacturing enabled BARANI DESIGN Technologies to bring to

Two wrongs don’t make a right Nighttime and wet weather undercooling errors averaged together with dayltime solar overheating errors may, by chance, result in small average daily temperature errors (common to multiplate and fan-ventilated solar shields). Since two errors don’t make a right, can new helical MeteoShield technology be a solution to this hidden measurement quality problem?

✛ www.baranidesign.com

Atmospheric Air Temperature Measurement Error Fan-Aspirated Radiation Shield 2σ uncertainty is non-symetric & larger

0.5 °C 0.4 °C

Fan-Aspirated Stevenson 0.3 °C Screen 2σ uncertainty BARANI MeteoShield 95% Confidence Interval

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0.2 °C BARANI 0.1a °C MeteoShield Pro has the lowest 0 °C error air temperature 2σ (95%) -0.1 °C uncerntainty -0.2 °C -0.3 °C -0.4 °C -0.5 °C

market a helical radiation shield whose performance has been validated by WMO studies to produce “Very limited heating under strong radiation. The mean overheating is as low as 0.2°C for medium global solar radiation and low wind speed (<1m/s)... the overheating is lower for higher global solar radiation. Despite the fact that the BARANI DESIGN shelters are not articially ventilated, their performances are better than our articially ventilated compact shelter.“ Why metadata?

Metadata plays a significant role in minimising misinformation and misconclusions, not only for meteorological data, but for all collected sensor data. The role of metadata has until now been largely overlooked in meteorology. Metadata is information that describes how and where the data is collected so that it can be interpreted in context.

Meteorological data without context (information on how and where it was measured) has very little value. Information whether a temperature sensor was in direct sunlight to cause a maximum or was overcooled inside a fan-ventilated shelter during rain to cause a minimum is important.

Missing this information can lead to misinterpretations and misconclusions. Such errors in input data for weather forecast simulations from climate monitoring are causing a stagnation in weather forecast accuracies. ✛ Author: Jan Barani, CTO, BARANI DESIGN Technologies

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Sustainable network Weather and flood hazards cause 90% of disaster-related losses. And, according to a World Bank brief in 2017, increasing urbanisation and climate change will make future losses even greater.

Some hydrological and meteorological events are made worse because people don’t receive adequate warning to get to safety. Great strides have been made in monitoring the environment around us, but developing nations are less able to invest in the infrastructure and manpower to keep their populaces informed and warned of natural dangers.

Since 1974, Campbell Scientific has been a trusted leader in the world of environmental monitoring. Its people create products, systems and networks that deliver the best, most-trusted measurements.

A network of more than 150 weather and flood monitoring stations by Campbell Scientific helped officials in the USA keep people informed and safe during Hurricane Harvey in 2015. Over 170 Campbell stations monitor flood conditions on the Yantze River in China. Dozens of weather stations in northeastern Brazil keep farmers and governments informed of growing conditions and hazards.

Such high-quality, well-managed networks are hard to establish and maintain in less prosperous parts of the world. Campbell Scientific has taken on the challenge of providing hydro-met monitoring assets to developing areas, and its engineers and scientists are renowned as experts in crafting specific solutions for any circumstance.

An example of how they responded to needs in a region of limited means is their co-operation with the Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO). They help provide thousands of low-cost, high-quality, all-in-one weather stations to cover Sub-Saharan Africa. The resulting data will benefit agriculture, transportation and flood warning applications.

In 2000, Mozambique was ravaged by catastrophic rainfall that lasted for several weeks.

More than 700 people were killed, at least 20,000 head of cattle were lost, and substantial damage was caused to infrastructure.

In 2019, tropical Cyclone Idai caused extensive flooding and damage to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi that left hundreds dead and many people homeless.

While well-functioning hydro-met networks would not have stopped these catastrophic flooding

✛ www.campbellsci.com

Campbell Scientific’s latest environmental monitoring solutions have the durability, flexibility and affordability to make a difference anywhere in the world

Asia’s unpredictable climate means monitoring is essential

Campbell Scientific’s ClimaVUE-2

events, trusted measurements would have provided early warnings that would have saved many lives and allowed people to safeguard personal possessions and livestock.

Predictions are that climate change will lead to more frequent and more violent weather systems.

It is, therefore, vitally important for developing countries to deploy extensive and sustainable hydro-met networks. Hydro-met networks are not just critical for early warnings system, but they also help calibrate weather-forecasting models, provide long-term data sets and provide valuable input to industries.

The problem is not simply that developing countries have not historically deployed enough hydro-met networks, but rather that many of these networks have fallen into a state of disrepair.

Several factors contribute to that problem. One is that budgeting for hydro-met monitoring systems is not a high priority when funds are scarce. This leads to dependence on donations from aid organisations, with several negative results: • First is the tendency toward lowest cost, and thus lowest quality equipment, often of disparate brands and architectures that are difficult to network together.

• Second, donor funding mostly covers capital procurement and not maintenance, leaving few resources to manage and repair complicated networks.

• Third, donor funding often does not include infrastructure essential to the success of a hydro-met network, such as air-conditioned

✛ www.campbellsci.com

✛ Monitoring

server rooms, backup servers and backup power, and reliable communications.

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SoilVUE (left), and MetPRO (below)

Another cause for the failure of networks and systems in developing areas is the lack of trained personnel to manage and maintain them. This lack of skills can be caused by inadequate funding for training or, more often, difficulty in retaining qualified personnel when budgets can’t pay competitively.

Durable solutions Campbell Scientific has learned to overcome these obstacles in many locations around the world. At the core of Campbell Scientific data-acquisition solutions are rugged and flexible data loggers that support an open architecture, allowing a wide range of sensors from different manufacturers to be interfaced. This helps circumvent problems of obsolescence because, if a specific sensor is no longer available, a comparable sensor can be interfaced very easily.

Campbell’s history of building rugged, reliable hydro-met stations is reflected in the long lifespan of the networks it has built. The South African Weather Service (SAWS) owns a network of more than 200 Campbell Scientific weather stations, with an average age of over 17 years. Durability contributes to lower maintenance costs and lower failure rates.

There is a Campbell Scientific solution for every need. The Pro Series of automated hydro-met stations offers high-quality solutions at a variety of budget levels. From the entry-level WxPro™, to the research-quality MetPRO™, to the mesonet-ready MesoPRO™, these systems can come prewired and preprogrammed, or customised to meet local requirements.

The ClimaVUE™50 is an affordable, all-in-one meteorological sensor that fills common weather monitoring needs with simplicity, when paired with any of Campbell Scientific’s flexible, scalable data-collection platforms.

This sensor reports air temperature, relative humidity, vapour pressure, barometric pressure, wind (speed, gust, and direction), solar radiation, precipitation and lightning strike (count and distance). It does this with no moving parts, while consuming little power. It is great for quick deployment, for remote locations, for large networks,

MetPRO system in situ

as part of a more complicated system, or if you just need something simple.

A major revolution in soil-water measurement, the SoilVUE™10 is a soil water-content profile sensor that measures soil moisture, electrical conductivity, and temperature. It measures in a vertical profile, developed with environmental monitoring networks in mind. The SoilVUE 10 represents several exciting advancements in soil measurement that make this a compelling option.

Infrastructure difficulties can be overcome via the many types of communication available with Campbell systems. Data can be transmitted over the best medium available in the region and backed up remotely so that it is not vulnerable to local infrastructure failures.

Campbell-Cloud™ services collect, archive, visualise and relay data economically. Its latest technologies ensure that data remains safe and secure but highly accessible when needed.

To create and sustain hydro-met networks to benefit safety and prosperity, governments and organisations in developing nations need expert help close at hand.

Campbell Scientific has corporate offices around the globe, and partners in nearly every region. These local experts know the local needs and challenges, and can navigate the procurement and technical systems to ensure high-quality, budget-friendly solutions. ✛ Author: Johan Visagie, Managing Director, Campbell Scientific Africa

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Reading wind in tough conditions The weather is a hard task master for those of us designing and manufacturing meteorological instruments. Our equipment must perform accurately and consistently in the heaviest rain; in the snow; at -20ºC and at +50ºC; through a sandstorm; in lightning; in the strongest hurricane or in the harshest salty air.

Ideally the equipment must consume little (or no) power, be very easy to set up and need no calibration. The good news is that a lot of hydro-meteorological equipment on sale today meets many or all of these requirements.

Over the past 50 years, manufacturers have steadily improved all types of instruments, aided by the hard work and detailed feedback of skilled users and observers from around the world. Most equipment can now be expected to work straight out of the box and give years of reliable service, whatever the weather.

Wind specialists At FT Technologies we make wind sensors. We can’t tell you to take care and “put the sensor somewhere sheltered out of the weather”; by the very nature of our product, we have to tell our users to “put the sensor right out in the wind” so that there is an uninterrupted flow of wind, rain, salt, sand or debris. Often, the sensor is the highest thing in a lightning storm.

We claim to make the “Toughest Wind Sensors in the World”. We are often asked to prove this, but first it is important to think about what this means for our users.

FT742 SM wind sensor used in hurricane research on a StickNet by Texas Tech University

Sensors can be used in marine environments

✛ fttechnologies.com

If you require reliable wind data, whatever the weather, whatever the conditions, the FT wind sensor could be the answer

The FT742 wind sensor may be the toughest in the world and here is fitted to a hurricane tripod

The FT sensor is small, light (about 350g) and made of hard anodised aluminium, so it is very strong and highly corrosion-resistant. This means it is easy to transport and to mount in position, and it is designed to work straight out of the box.

More importantly it is designed to survive whatever Mother Nature can throw at it. This means you continue to get wind measurements just when you really need them – when it is really windy – 75m/s windy; 168mph windy; 270kph windy. That wind will be picking up debris and hurling it around but the sensor’s small size means it is less likely to be hit and its strength means that if it is hit it is more likely to survive – so you keep getting the data that you need to do your job.

Big storms can generate a lot of lightning.

Like most things, the sensor will not withstand a direct lightning strike, but it is designed to survive a strike to a lightning protection system.

When lightning hits a lightning rod a lot of energy is generated which can destroy instruments.

However, if the FT sensor and the lightning protection system are well grounded, the sensor will survive this burst of energy and will continue to give good service.

Every sensor is calibrated in our automated wind tunnel and because of its solid-state design, the sensor does not need recalibrating every two or three years. The FT sensor will be giving the same quality of data on day 2,000 as it did on day one – giving NMHSs consistent and reliable data through time, reducing the cost of ownership.

✛ fttechnologies.com

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The FT742 wind sensor staying ice free at the Izana Solar observatory in the Canary Islands at 2,390m

Though not yet legal, met agency drones (here with the 100g FT205 wind sensor on board) will soon be a common sight

The light weight and portability means the sensor can be built into portable weather stations to quickly re-establish weather monitoring in disasters or even into hand-held weather stations like the HWS 3000 from our partners Zoglab.

NMHSs are increasingly turning to drones mounted with sensors to either fill gaps in their networks or to carry out specialist measurement campaigns.

Weight is the enemy of drones, so we have developed the 100g FT205 wind sensor. As well as wind, it can also measure temperature and has a built-in compass. This is new technology but so far users have been very pleased with the results.

Toughest in the world?

So, how can we claim that this little sensor is the “Toughest Wind Sensor in the World”? Well, we test it – a lot – and we sell many thousands into very demanding applications.

Before a sensor gets sold to a customer, prototypes are tested in our ‘torture chamber’ (technically a highly accelerated lifecycle test (HALT) chamber). They are vibrated in six dimensions at up to 50 times the force of gravity while being cooled to -90ºC and heated to +120ºC – we do this to promote any failures in the design and then correct them. We also carry out a range of external tests at independent test facilities to established international standards.

The sensor is blasted with high-pressure water and submerged one metre under water to ensure

it is rainproof. It has 50mm hailstones shot at it 30m/s to show it can survive high-speed impacts.

It has sand blown at it for three hours at 29m/s to show it is sand-proof. It is sprayed with warm salt water for 1,440 hours to show that it is corrosion-resistant. And it is dropped 10 times from one metre on to steel-faced concrete to show it is drop-proof.

In the icing test, it is sprayed with air-blown water at 15m/s at -14ºC and must stay ice free. It is also turned in to a ball of ice up to 45mm thick and must de-ice itself in 15 minutes.

We also conduct a suite of electromagnetic tests to ensure the sensor is lightning-resistant and resistant to interference from equipment such as high-power radios or radars.

We can say that we make the “Toughest Wind Sensors in the World” because we have tested the sensor – sometimes to destruction.

The reason that we can make this sensor so small and tough is our unique Acu-Res® ultrasonic technology based on a resonating ultrasonic signal.

This gives a very strong signal in a small space and enables the FT sensor to be small and strong, and to continue working in the toughest environments. ✛

Author: Fred Squire, Director, Sales & Marketing, FT Technologies

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Low-cost mobile sounding Seeing gaps in environmental measurement data around the world, Swedish company Sparv Embedded set out to enable dense measurements of the lower atmosphere where this was previously either too expensive or troublesome.

Boundary level conditions change rapidly over time and can be very localised, making it difficult for users to launch traditional radiosondes often enough, especially while on the move. In an ideal world, NMHSs would release many sondes across multiple locations at regular intervals, allowing them to gather dense atmospheric data across both time and space. However, this is not always possible.

Bringing large ground stations and gas tubes to a site is logistically challenging and expensive. Sonde balloons can be big, requiring multiple bottles of helium gas and extensive shielding to protect them during inflation. Users are often only able to use one balloon at a time, and must wait some time for the sonde to take its measurements before moving to the next location, leading to poor data density.

These challenges are particularly stark in developing nations, where financing and infrastructure are limited. However, a radically easier model for boundary level measurement is available that can lower the cost per sounding to just a few US dollars.

Windsond Windsond is a miniature low-price GPS radiosonde system by Sparv, whose focus on portability and low-operating costs make its instruments perfect for frequent use in the field.

This sonde only needs 30 litres of helium for low-altitude soundings, making it so portable that it

Sparvio system on an umanned drone

✛ www.sparvembedded.com

Sparv Embedded’s focus on portability, affordability and smart tech makes it easier than ever to gather air measurements on the move

The small balloons make Windsond very portable

can even be released through an open car window.

And Sparv’s standard system can simultaneously track up to eight sondes per radio receiver. These features, in combination with user-friendly software, makes Windsond easy to use and highly appreciated by Sparv’s customers.

An extension of Windsond which supports more than 30 radiosondes simultaneously has made headlines in the USA, and Sparv has now extended this further, supporting over 100 sondes in the air.

This is a totally new capability for atmospheric science, creating datasets of multiple tracks in 3D space that will enable a new level of insight.

Windsond can be used just like a regular radiosonde by users who don’t need to regain the sonde after sounding. However, thanks to special software and hardware features, there is also an option for the sonde to be reusable, which has caught the attention of scientists, educators, hot-air balloon pilots and others.

Windsond works optimally on soundings between two to four kilometre altitude, where sondes can be recovered afterwards without much work. Windsond can reach seven to nine kilometre altitude, though it is not a replacement for traditional radiosondes that measure up to 25km-30km. Windsond is also not certified with the WMO for reporting official upper-air data to the GCOS Upper-Air Network (GUAN).

However, these cost-effective, mobile instruments allow NMHSs to gather data where they otherwise would gather no data at all, dramatically improving

✛ www.sparvembedded.com

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local weather forecasting capabilities. In regions such as Central Africa, for example, changing atmospheric conditions make accurate forecasting difficult, and gathering localised air data can make a big difference.

Sparvio Sparv also recognises the wider need for sensor integration with mobile systems – especially drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Fixed stations gather long time series data, but are not always the best choice for mapping distribution over an area.

They can also be inflexible when responding to fast-evolving events such as wildfires, and expensive to install in all locations of interest, and finding variations at different altitudes traditionally requires a tall mast with multiple sensors, which is a very expensive and inflexible option.

With this in mind, Sparv developed a generic platform – Sparvio – to connect small sensors to mobile systems.

Sparvio is a state-of-the-art sensor equipment that provides a modular, plug-and-play solution for measuring various quantities for UAVs, other environmental studies, lab experiments and education. The Sparvio system is designed to start immediate measurements without any further integration. Today Sparv offers sensors such as T/ RH, winds, CO2, O3, CH4 and PM, and is happy to support more sensors on customer requests.

Sparvio equipment is fully compatible with Windsond. The system supports a large number of simultaneously connected modules and can freely be rearranged by the user thanks to its universal connectors.

For ultimate flexibility, Sparv opted to make each sensor smart. New low-cost sensors raise hopes of much denser measurements of particles, CO2, methane, VOC, SO2 and other variables, but they can be more difficult to integrate than high-cost sensors.

Data gathered by low-cost sensors may require some post-processing (to iron our performance biases or convert data from analogue to digital, for example), while high cost sensors often come with in-built intelligence that does this automatically.

However, the Sparvio framework makes such integration a breeze and includes many features

UAV equipped with nine sensors performs mapping of natural emissions of CO2 from Swedish lakes

only found on expensive sensors. Instead of keeping all logics and calibration in a central data logger, our small adapter boards are loaded with a software driver for the sensor. Now even third-party sensors become plug-and-play and can be hot-swapped in the field.

Easy, no-configuration installation like this is especially important on UAVs, where a hard landing can require replacing a sensor far from the workshop.

Historically, high density sounding has been too expensive and demanding for many NMHSs to implement successfully. Today, Sparv’s low cost, flexible systems make the gathering of dense air measurement more affordable and achievable than ever before. ✛ Author: Anders Petersson, CEO/CTO Sparv Embedded

• Measuring wind speed, direction and temperature 161mm

• Powered by our unique Acu-Res® technology • Stronger signal-to-noise ratio than other ultrasonics • No moving parts, maintenance-free • Low power • Lightweight model for use on drones

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✛ www.anemoment.com

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Know the wind

For millennia, people guessed wind speed and direction by watching plants move, waves ripple, and smoke columns bend. Over time, people developed technologies — weather vanes and cup anemometers, pressure and acoustic sensors, Doppler Lidar and research aircraft — to understand, manage, and harness the wind.

Wind’s widespread impact Today, the need to know the wind is greater than ever. The agriculturalist spraying crops wants to know the wind in the field. The flight controller wants to know the wind turbulence encountered and created by landing aircraft. The turbine operator wants to know the wind gusts that damage rotor blades.

The climatologist wants to know the wind, and aerosols that influence local and global weather.

The crane operator wants to know the wind that might unbalance a load. The pipeline insurer wants to know the wind that may bear leaking gases. The hazardous materials clean-up team wants to know the wind that scatters toxins. The firefighter wants to know the wind that drives the inferno.

To accurately and immediately know the wind is to save time, money, the environment, and lives.

Modern meteorological wind and weather sensing systems provide this crucial information.

Large and bulky permanently mounted fixtures report conditions in the immediate area. Heavy ground-based Lidar peers into clouds far above.

But these solutions may fall short in changing, remote, cost-sensitive or emergency conditions.

Three Rs: Rapid. Repositionable. Reliable.

To know the wind in today’s changing environment calls for a wind and weather sensor system that offers rapid data acquisition, is easily repositionable to new locations and purposes, and is reliable and sturdy in remote settings. It must be lightweight, easy to use with existing systems, and consume little power.

TriSonica™ Mini Wind & Weather Sensors by Anemoment satisfy this need. TriSonica™ Mini sensors are compact, lightweight, portable and energy-efficient. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and weighing less than 50 grams, the sensor is a powerful and highly accurate tool engineered for atmospheric monitoring,

Anemoment wind and weather sensors are rapid, repositionable and reliable

TriSonica™ Mini Wind & Weather Sensors by Anemoment

weather reporting, boundary layer and ecosystem research.

The TriSonica™ Mini sensors apply the physics of sound to know the wind, so they have no moving parts to wear out or replace; and because they are made of a glass-reinforced nylon housing paired with carbon-fibre rods, they are sturdy and UV resistant.

The TriSonica™ Mini sensors provide digital serial output that can be fed into existing data capture or transmission systems, or can be linked to the Anemoment Datalogger, available separately.

Even with their small size, the TriSonica™ Mini Wind & Weather Sensors detect wind speed and direction including elements of lift and downdraft, temperature, humidity, air pressure, tilt and compass bearing.

The TriSonica™ Mini Wind & Weather Sensors can be mounted on a fixed or portable tower, hand-carried into the field, or perched on an unmanned aerial vehicle to allow users to immediately ‘know the wind’. ✛ Author: Elizabeth Hervey Osborn, CEO, Anemoment

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A new dimension

Many surface weather stations across the globe suffer from incorrect siting, poor maintenance and limited communications for real-time monitoring. To expand observation networks in sparsely observed regions, the 3D-PAWS (3D-Printed Automatic Weather Station) initiative has been launched by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and the US National Weather Service International Activities Office (NWS IAO), with support from the USAID Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA).

The objectives of the initiative are to: • Build capacity to reduce hydrometeorologyrelated risk in developing countries; • Observe and communicate weather and climate information to rural communities; • Develop observation networks and applications to reduce weather-related risk.

System overview A very high-quality 3D-PAWS surface weather station can be manufactured in about a week, at

3D-PAWS station located at the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), Barbados

✛ www.comet.ucar.edu

The 3D-Printed Automatic Weather Station can be assembled locally at low cost, putting control in the hands of local NMHSs

Benefits of 3D-PAWS • Use 3D printers – inexpensive technology • Use low-cost, reliable micro-sensors • Design a system that that can be assembled locally in country • ‘Print and replace’ components when systems fail • Enable local agencies to take ownership in building and maintaining observation networks

a cost of only $200-$400, using locally sourced materials, microsensor technology, low-cost single board computers, and a 3D printer.

Systems can be assembled locally in country incorporating ‘print and replace’ components for when systems fail, enabling local agencies to take ownership in building and maintaining observation networks.

Sensor evaluation 3D-PAWS sensors were evaluated at the UCAR Marshall Research Facility in Boulder, Colorado and the NOAA Testbed facility in Sterling, Virginia.

The Boulder site provides sampling conditions in a high-altitude semi-arid environment with subfreezing temperatures and frozen precipitation.

The NOAA site provides sampling for a more temperate and humid climate near sea-level.

Sensor observations were compared with calibrated commercial reference sensors.

Overall, the sensors compared well with calibrated reference sensors and are comparable to WMO standards. The sensors are currently being independently tested and certified by the NOAA Testbed facility to meet WMO standards.

Data access 3D-PAWS real-time data is available on the CHORDS (Cloud-Hosted Real-time Data Services for Geosciences) project data server: http://3d. chortsrt.com.

CHORDS is a US National Science Foundation (NSF) EarthCube initiative to provide a platform for sharing geosciences datasets. It is supported and managed by the UCAR/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL).

✛ www.comet.ucar.edu

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Station pilot networks 3D-PAWS systems have been deployed in the US (4), Kenya (20), Zambia (6), Barbados (2), Curacao (1), Senegal (1), Germany (1), and Austria (1), with new stations being installed in El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

The primary focus in the US is on testing and evaluation. The sites in Kenya are co-located with schools with a test site at the Kenya Met Department (KMD). The sites in Zambia are installed at radio stations, schools, and rural missions with a test site at the Zambia Met Department (ZMD).

The sites in the Caribbean are located at the Curacao Met Department (CMD) and the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) with the primary focus on testing and evaluation.

Applications The 3D-PAWS systems can be used for a variety of applications that include: Regional weather forecasting Observations from the 3D-PAWS network can be assimilated into regional numerical weather prediction systems such as the Weather Research and Forecast (www.wrf-model.org) model to improve mesoscale weather forecasts.

Regional decision support systems Real-time monitoring of precipitation in ungauged or minimally gauged river basins can provide input to flash flood guidance and early warning decision

Martin Steinson (COMET) demonstrating the 3D-PAWS station at the Agence Nationale de l’Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie (ANACIM), Dakar, Senegal

support systems to support delivery of flood alerts.

Agricultural monitoring 3D-PAWS can support water resource management tools to improve reservoir operation for fresh water supplies and hydroelectric power generation. Other applications include operation of irrigation systems (eg, centre pivots) and agricultural crop monitoring.

Health monitoring 3D-PAWS can also help monitor conditions leading to outbreaks of diseases such as meningitis and malaria. ✛ Authors: Dr. Paul A. Kucera and Martin Steinson, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research/ COMET Program

The COMET Program

Martin Steinson and Paul Kucera explaining 3D-PAWS sensors to students at the Naivasha All Girls School, Kenya

The COMET ® Program is a world-wide leader in support of education and training for the environmental sciences, delivering scientifically relevant and instructionally progressive products and services.

More recently, the program has expanded its international capacity development to improve rural and remote communication and collection of meteorological information in developing countries.

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Accurate and reliable sondes En-Sci is a Colorado-based company recognised as the leading expert in atmospheric ozone and water vapour measurement. En-Sci’s sonde product line consists of highly sensitive instruments that are attached to weather balloons and sent into the atmosphere to measure both ozone or water vapour.

Its sonde instruments communicate with numerous radiosonde manufacturers throughout the world. Each sonde has a serial communications output to be coupled with radiosonde manufacturers for relaying data points to a ground receiving station in real-time.

En-Sci is considered the pre-eminent global leader in the manufacturing of ozonesondes for measuring atmospheric ozone and of the Cryogenic Frostpoint Hygrometer (CFH), which with precise accuracy measures water vapour from Earth’s surface to the mid-stratosphere.

En-Sci’s products are made using advanced proprietary technology which allows its instruments to make extremely accurate, repeatable, high resolution (ppb) measurements. Even with this precision, En-Sci’s products remain cost-effective to meet any NMHS’s fiscal budgetary considerations.

The ozonesonde products have been flown for over five decades by numerous governmental agencies throughout the world, resulting in a ‘trend’ type database which is used as a reference point for countless studies on our natural environment. These sonde products are also highly reliable products with consistent repeatability and reproducibility of field measurements.

Ozonesonde flightbox

✛ www.en-sci.com

Market-leading instruments for measuring atmospheric ozone and water vapour

Why understand water vapour?

Why understand water vapour?

Water vapour plays an integral role in the overall heat budget of Earth.

Thean CFH measures vapour Water vapour plays integral role inthe thewater overall heat in the stratosphere can sense water concentrabudget of Earth. Theand CFH measures the water vapour in theto stratosphere andThe canapplications sense waterfor concentrations the ppm level. this are: tions to the ppm level.

The applications for are: • Measurement of water vapour inside ice this clouds of water vapour inside icetropic clouds •• Measurement Dehydration studies (particularly in the bands • Dehydration studies (particularly in the tropic bands of the troposphere) the troposphere) • of Validation of satellite measurements and radio• sonde Validation of satellite measurements and radiohumidity sensors sonde humidity sensors

Product features The ozonesonde is a lightweight, compact and inexpensive balloon-borne instrument for measuring both atmospheric and surface level (human health impact) ozone. It is mated with a conventional third-party meteorological radiosonde. The ozone concentration is sent back to a ground receiving station through the radiosonde. The balloon will ascend to altitudes of around 115,000 feet (35km) before bursting and then descending back to the earth’s surface. En-Sci offers different models of ozonesondes (Model Z, 1Z and 2Z) to accommodate different manufacturers.

The CFH sonde accurately and precisely measures water vapour at elevations from Earth’s surface to the mid-stratosphere (25km+ height). This lightweight instrument has a significantly greater sensitivity to water vapour than standard radiosondes, yet is a fraction the cost of an aircraft-mounted instrument.

The CFH contains a mirror which is kept at a specific temperature (the ‘frostpoint’) so that a constant thin layer of ice is maintained on the mirror.

When the frostpoint is calculated during the flight, the instrument accurately knows the water content of the atmosphere it is passing through.

En-Sci has a loyal customer base from more than 20 countries around the world, with approximately two-thirds from research institutes, government organisations and universities. They have flown En-Sci sondes over long periods of time and depend on the high performance and reliability of measurements as a comparative basis for other field campaigns. ✛ Author: Jonathan Harnetiaux, Owner, En-Sci

✛ www.vaisala.com

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Breathable air starts with meteorology According to the World Health Organization (WHO), exposure to ambient air pollution causes more than four million premature deaths each year – and more than 90% of the world’s population live in areas where the quality of air exceeds WHO guideline limits.

Poor air quality has global significance not only due to its devastating effect on human health and the environment, but also its impact in economic terms. The World Bank estimates that bad ambient and household air pollution cost the world’s economy some $5.1trn in welfare losses in 2013.

For sustainable urban development, greener policy actions and mitigation of pollution impacts, access to historical and real-time pollution data is critical. By combining data from high-performing air quality sensor networks with important weather parameters, Vaisala can help NMHSs and environmental protection agencies (EPAs) to overcome monitoring challenges, measure meteorological conditions and enable effective air quality monitoring.

Air quality monitoring challenges Unfortunately, many developing nations lack ground-based air quality monitoring instruments for real-time air quality assessment. Traditional and costly analyser-based stations are typically installed in very small quantities and therefore provide little information on the air quality across larger areas. Their maintenance is another challenge often faced by authorities in developing regions.

Given the challenging current state of air quality monitoring infrastructure across the globe, and people in countless cities suffering

Gathering a complete picture of air quality is important to human health, the natural environment and the global economy – and this starts with understanding the weather

Pollution in the city of Nanjing (main image) and an AQ sensor installation at a bus stop (insert)

from poor health as a result of airborne pollutants, authorities around the world need cost-effective monitoring hardware that is simple to deploy and use.

A complete picture of air quality Recent technological advances in miniature sensors have made it possible to develop and manufacture cost-efficient and compact air quality instruments with performance suitable for local pollution monitoring.

A network of these state-of-the-art air quality instruments complemented with compact weather stations allows Vaisala to provide a complete picture of the atmosphere across a city, for example, increasing the local authority’s understanding of air pollution cycles and the impact of weather and climate - allowing it to better fight pollution and improve public health. ✛ Author: Dr. Mikko Laakso, Business Development Manager, Air Quality, Vaisala

Why measuring meteorological conditions is crucial The amount of air pollution in an area depends on meteorological conditions as nature’s own ‘air conditioning’ can help keep the air clean but also make it even more polluted.

Wind mixes the gases

and dilutes them while rain washes the dust and other substances to the ground. While strong winds move pollutants hundreds of kilometers away, stagnant air from light winds can cause increased air pollution.

Variations in the atmospheric boundary or mixing layer can trap pollutants to a shallow air mass and cause dangerously high pollutant concentrations.

As such, simply measuring air pollution

alone is not sufficient.

To understand why air quality can vary every day, we must also measure and understand meteorological conditions such as wind, temperature, rain and humidity.

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Moving beyond mercury instruments Meteorological temperature and barometric pressure monitoring has traditionally been carried out using mercury based instruments.

In 2013, the UNEP Minamata Convention on Mercury (www.mercuryconvention.org) agreed the withdrawal of all mercury from the work and living space by 2020 due to the dangers mercury vapour poses to humans, animals and the environment (see page 24).

The WMO is aligned to this strategy and has advised its members to find suitable alternatives in order to ensure that data sets are maintained continuously and reliably going forward.

Long-term climatological records are a crucial factor in analysing data to understand climate variability and change. Any break in the continuity of these records and/or step changes that are not attributable to climate variability need to be fully documented and understood to avoid misinterpretation of historical climate data records in years to come.

Replacing mercury thermometers within a national or regional network, or even at a single site, without proper planning is likely to harm or even ruin the homogeneity of long-period data sets.

Intellisense® Knowing that the supply of meteorological thermometers would rapidly dry up, Fairmount Weather Systems embarked upon a development

✛ www.fairmountweather.com

The Intellisense® Data acquisition module has been designed to replace mercury-based thermometers and barometers, which are obsolete from 2020

The Intellisense system has been proven to be twice as accurate as the minimum level required by the CIMO Guide

project in 2014 to design an instrument specifically aligned to the requirements of the WMO and its members in accord with the CIMO Guide.

Our goal was to produce a digital instrument that would be twice as good as the accuracy requirements currently adopted in the CIMO Guide (nominally that readings should be within 0.2°C of the actual temperature), and to follow as closely as possible the methodology currently used in manual observations by human observers in thousands of Meteorological Gardens worldwide.

Intellisense® enables additional sensors to be added simply by ‘plugging in’ extra modules, allowing users to measure parameters such as

What are the alternatives?

Non-mercury liquid in glass (LIG) thermometers are inherently less accurate and responsive than mercury thermometers making it virtually impossible to maintain compliance with the WMO CIMO Guide, and more difficult to determine small changes in climate.

Also, it is physically impossible to manufacture an LIG ‘maximum’ thermometer without mercury.

The main benefit of LIG

non-mercury thermometers is their cost, but breakages are frequent compared to digital devices. This, coupled with the cost of calibration and ongoing verifying eats into the cost benefit.

Another option is combined temperature and humidity sensors that can be connected to a digital readout and/or a data logger – such as an automatic weather station (AWS).

This has many advantages,

but presents a different methodology to the traditional Stevenson screen and so could be regarded as a potential “step change” in the recorded data attributable to the method rather than the climate.

Low-cost digital thermometers are not suitable in exposed and harsh environments, limited in scope, and their accuracy is difficult to ascertain or maintain, so unlikely to meet

CIMO recommendations.

Higher quality instruments are likely to be more expensive, but can suffer from inaccurate relative humidity (RH) measurements due to the sensor being contaminated in harsh environments. Pollution can degrade these sensors within months, requiring replacement or recalibration to maintain data integrity, which can again prove costly over the long term.

✛ www.fairmountweather.com

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Intellisense® enables additional sensors to be added simply by ‘plugging in’ extra modules

soil temperature, grass minimum, barometric pressure and rainfall.

The system can be connected to local and remote networks for data security, users can display archived or live data using Fairmount’s graphical user interface, Xyrix, and there is also a telemetry option allowing GPRS connection to the cellular network.

Reliability and consistency of service is vital to give users confidence in their long-term data.

Intellisense® has a low-power requirement and can be run on a battery and solar charged.

Long-term value Intellisense® is not as cheap as LIG thermometry but it does have many advantages, such as superior cost effectiveness over its lifespan due to its inherent accuracy and reliability.

Fairmount estimates that Intellisense® reaches a breakeven point with LIG thermometers within three to five years based upon the likely breakage of LIG thermometers and the associated cost of purchasing, shipping and calibrating LIG replacements. After this point, the instrument has paid for itself and becomes less expensive than continuing to replace broken LIG thermometers.

In addition, Fairmount has included as standard a barometric pressure sensor in each Intellisense® Hygrometer as part of the deal – this could save as much as $3,000 (the cost of a high-quality digital barometer, subject to specifications).

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As Intellisense® maintains the original ‘wet/ dry bulb’ method of measuring and calculating RH, there is less chance of a step change in RH measurements over less reliable (as we would see it) capacitive RH sensors which are prone to degradation without warning.

Intellisense® logs air temperature, wet bulb temperature and pressure data in its internal memory for later download as back up and also rainfall if equipped with a tipping bucket rain gauge).

The system still requires an observer to take readings, top up the water reservoir and change the wicks on the wet bulb sensor – but as most NMHSs who still maintain Stevenson screens with mercury/LIG thermometers have observers and are not generally under pressure to reduce their staff, it is just a matter of continuing as before, but with all of the benefits of high accuracy, reliability and data integrity that comes as standard with Intellisense®.

Proven results To assess how Intellisense® compares with conventional mercury thermometers, one of the first units was installed at the University of Reading’s Atmospheric Observatory in 2016. It is read every morning alongside existing maximum and minimum thermometers as part of the standard 09:00 UTC manual observation, which dates back to 1908.

Other comparison trials of the system are being undertaken in different climates and localities around the world, including at the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology & Hydrology (CIMH).

The Reading results have been very encouraging: the Intellisense® unit has performed reliably and accurately as a mercury thermometer replacement, and its performance against manually read maximum and minimum thermometers has been well within the allowable differences, averaging within 0.1°C of both conventional instruments and a co-located PRT, with long-term reliability and drift expected within ± 0.05°C per decade assuming annual calibration checks. ✛ Author: Paul Copping, Managing Director, Fairmount Weather Systems

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Hydrology

04

68 Sommer Messtechnik No-maintenance water and snow measurement > 70 Aquatic Informatics Managing African water resources

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✛ Hydrology

Maintenance-free water and snow measurement When building a hydrological network, every measurement point is important. The more measurement points are installed on a river and its tributaries, the more detailed the data and the better able users are to forecast and monitor flood situations as they develop, manage water resources and protect lives.

Ideally, hydrological networks should be continuously expanded and optimised. The data collected should be administered centrally then made accessible to users such as specialist departments and water experts as well as to the general public via the internet. This information is, after all, vital not only to protect populations in the event of extreme weather, but also to keep industries such as agriculture well-irrigated and productive.

For NMHSs with limited financial and human resources, operating and maintaining multiple sites can be challenging - particularly if they still rely on old rating curve methodologies and technology. However, hydrological modelling has advanced significantly in the past decade, and advances in sensor technology mean instruments are much more accurate and easier to operate across multiple sites than before.

Contact-free continuous monitoring Sommer Messtechnik develops, manufactures and sells sensors and environmental monitoring equipment, including innovative Doppler radar sensors for discharge measurement and snow monitoring. These solutions are combined with user-friendly systems for data recording, management and telemetry, allowing users to monitor and share readings in real time, create hydrographical reports and develop timely flood warning services based on current measurement data.

✛ www.sommer.at

Accurate monitoring at all stages of the hydrological cycle protects lives and maintains economies

RG-30 at Alfenzwerke’s hydro electric power plant

In the early 2000s, Sommer developed its own hydrological model and its system builds the rating curve internally for customers. In the past, users were often required to install different instruments to monitor the three most important parameters in hydrology - water velocity, level and discharge.

This data can now be gathered using one instrument, saving money and time on installation, management and maintenance.

Sommer’s systems gather data continuously, 24/7, and employ specially developed contact-free radar technology to provide reliable, detailed measurements at every stage of the hydrological cycle with globally verified accuracy. Sommer’s ultrasonic RG-30, RQ-30 and RL-15 sensors, for example, offer continuous non-contact measurement of velocity, discharge and water level without submersion into water.

Managing water extremes Many countries in Africa spend much of the time with a water shortage.

During these periods, it is important to take exact measurements to enable the optimised distri-

bution of water to allow people to live, work, farm and grow. Meanwhile, these same countries must often also be ready for flash flooding as they may lie in the

tropics and experience heavy rainfall and floods in monsoon season.

Continuous accurate monitoring of water parameters, 24/7, 365 days a year, allows these

countries to manage water supplies efficiently during lean seasons and be ready to issue early warnings when flood strikes, saving lives and businesses.

✛ www.sommer.at

✛ Hydrology

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The importance of snow measurement If you have snow in your country, it is worth investing in snow measurement in order to be able to predict and monitor how much snow will melt and run off from mountains into nearby rivers and communities. Sommer offers a range of products for measuring any snow or ice parameter,

including snow depth, snow water equivalent, snow surface temperature, sliding movement and liquid water content for runoff and snow melt. This data is vital for disaster risk preparedness and the provision of avalanche, heavy snow and flood warnings. It also has a huge role to play in water resource

Contact-free radar measurement is far safer for users than conventional methods, which require instruments to be manually submerged this not only increases the risk of damage to the instrument, but can also be dangerous as it is common for users to be pulled into flowing water, particularly in flood situations.

Ultrasonic technology is also transforming snow and ice measurement. The IDS-20 - a sensor for monitoring icing and freezing rain -is the first

Ice monitoring at a wind turbine

RQ-30 installed on a bridge over the Rhine in Koblach

management for both local populations and industry. The Atacama Desert in Chile, for example, experiences virtually no precipitation and is one of the driest places in the world. Communities there are totally reliant on mountain snow melt to meet their water needs, and Sommer’s data is needed 24/7.

non-contact ice detection system which is able to measure from 0.01mm up to 80mm of ice thickness, for example, while the USH-9 Snow Depth Sensor is the world leading maintenance-free non-contact sensor for snow measurement.

Solutions for all environments Hydrological monitoring systems often need to be located far from infrastructure in remote and sometimes harsh environments, such as alpine and high alpine weather stations.

Sommer’s sensors measure 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and are not influenced by weather such as rain, fog or snow. These instruments are also designed with extremely low energy consumption, making them suitable for extreme weather conditions and for remote locations and high alpine terrain.

Sommer has installations all over the world in both developed and developing nations.

Even in developed countries, budget cuts and understaffing mean some NMHSs struggle to optimise their hydrological networks, but Sommer’s systems make it easier than ever before for NMHSs to operate multiple sites cost-effectively.

Many NMHSs which had used older methods for decades have switched to Sommer solutions due to the accuracy and reliability of the data, as well as significant savings in maintenance costs and manual checks - freeing up money and human resources to build and maintain denser, better networks.

Author: Christoph Sommer, General Manager, Sommer Messtechnik

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✛ Hydrology

African water: A better future Africa is home to three of the 10 largest water basins in the world by drainage area (the Congo, Nile and Niger). However, the distribution of water in Africa is far from uniform. Of the world’s largest rivers, the Congo is second only to the Amazon in terms of runoff (0.89 mm/day compared with 2.56 mm/d) but the runoff from the Niger (0.23 mm/d) and Nile (0.07 mm/d) rank ninth and tenth respectively, far lower than even the Mississippi River after it has been substantially depleted to irrigate the American bread basket (0.45 mm/d).

Imagine a future where irrigation enhances agricultural production, hydro-electricity energises households and industries, water security is ensured, communities are safeguarded from the effects of climate change and critical ecosystems are resilient.

Now imagine a dystopian future in which water is over-used, misused and abused. Over-use is a cumulative effect of purposeful self-interest.

Misuse is a result of poorly informed choices resulting in unwanted consequences. Abuse is a result of a complete disregard that water is a shared resource. The water future we get is the water future we create.

Water is closely linked to economic, health, environmental and social outcomes. The correlation is so strong that water management can be attributed as being a key driving factor in regional wealth, health, ecosystem sustainability and social stability. Better water management is needed to ensure the trend in all these outcomes is systematically driven in a positive direction.

Water is closely linked to economic, health, environmental and social outcomes

✛ www.aquaticinformatics.com

New and emerging technologies are, finally, starting to enable strategic management of Africa’s water assets

Barriers to better water management Africa’s water resources are shared among more than 50 countries in a social mosaic that includes in excess of a thousand languages.

Negotiating new water projects in this complicated social and jurisdictional context requires the answers to four simple questions. How much water is there? What is the water quality? How much water will there be? What will the water quality be?

Whereas the answers to the last two questions require project-specific environmental impact assessments, such assessments are not even possible without answers to the first two questions. And that is the problem.

Any potential water project can become contentious among competing interest groups if there is a lack of access to timely, reliable and trustworthy water data as an accepted source of truth.

Strategic progress in water management requires building trust by enabling data search, discovery and accessibility.

Africa is not without water data There is a rich history of water monitoring throughout most of Africa. However, lacking adequate investment in water data management, this data is mostly unsearchable (there is no easy way to find that it even exists), undiscoverable (even basic metadata is often disconnected from the data itself), inaccessible (it is not available to the public) and for the most part it is untrustworthy in its present state.

Water monitoring agencies in countries such as Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda are now using the AQUARIUS Platform to resolve

✛ www.aquaticinformatics.com

✛ Hydrology

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“Perhaps the single most impactful difference that AQUARIUS has made is in rating curve development” the problems that have historically resulted in a critical gap between water monitoring and water management.

With AQUARIUS, data availability is now virtually synchronous with data acquisition. Data is reliable both because of rigorous data handling within a secure, centralised database and because the modern, intuitive, user experience makes it difficult to make errors yet easy to discover and eliminate errors.

And the data is trustworthy because of rich metadata handling providing a robust basis for end-user confidence.

Rating development tool Perhaps the single most impactful difference that AQUARIUS has made is in rating curve development. The operational conditions for hydrometric data collection in Africa are challenging and budgets for field operations are often only sufficient to overcome some but not all of the challenges.

Many gauges have complex channel controls and many streams have high-sediment transport and mobile channels.

Using conventional empirical curve fitting tools it is often nearly impossible to correctly resolve the shape of the curves and their respective periods of applicability.

The AQUARIUS rating development tool has been designed for the operational reality of developing ratings from sparse data.

This not only means that it is possible to produce trustworthy discharge data even with the scant resources available for operating gauges today, but also that discharge data can be salvaged from historic records that had not previously been processed (for want of enough discharge measurements) to develop ratings using outdated rating curve development technology.

Stuart Hamilton (front row, second from left), in Tanzania with fellow hydrologists

Rehabilitating and ‘daylighting’ historic data while producing new data in a modern data management framework is expected to result in improvements to: • Planning: for climate, land use and population change contingencies.

• Policies: for strategic co-ordination of economic, social and environmental benefits.

• Engineering: for efficient and cost effective design, construction and maintenance of water projects.

• Sharing: for fair and equitable allocation of all available water resources.

• Compliance: as a result of monitoring and enforcement of regulations.

• Protection: of water sources, critical ecosystems, valued species, and communities.

A new era of water data The net effect of connecting water data to water management will be that Africans will finally have a path forward toward a desired water future.

The hydrologists and hydrographers with whom I have worked with in Rwanda and Tanzania are pioneers in a new era of water data management in Africa. Their work is but one piece in the overall scheme of water management, but trusted and accessible data is a precondition for all future successes.

Author: Stuart Hamilton, Senior Hydrologist, Aquatic Informatics

Weather radar /Lidar

05

74 Baron Building better radar networks > 77 Leonardo Mitigating extreme weather > 80 L3 Technologies High performance radar shields > 82 Raymetrics Harnessing the potential of Lidar > 84 EWR Radar Mexico: Rainfall and storm monitoring

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✛ Weather radar/Lidar

Building a better weather radar Since the advent of weather applications for radar following the Second World War, engineers and operators have historically encountered numerous major challenges. From the accuracy of data processing to the maintenance and longevity of radar investments, the need has been clear for improved clutter suppression, automated calibration, maintenance and remote monitoring.

These points are especially critical when one or more radars are used as a primary data point for an integrated meteorological network.

The key objective when developing the Baron Gen3 series of weather radar was solving these challenges. In doing so, Baron engineers implemented new techniques and technologies to ensure precision hydrometeorological detection, with maximum possible uptime and reduced manpower.

Automated calibration A properly calibrated radar is essential to the success of meteorological organisations. An uncalibrated or poorly calibrated radar generates degraded base data, limiting the usefulness of the radar and contributing to erroneous weather forecasts.

When major storms are tracked across a network of radars, the combination of data required from several radars makes it crucial that the entire network is calibrated to a commonly known standard. In addition, since base data is used to generate products for rainfall estimation, hail detection and rain/snow discrimination, small errors in the base data can cause large errors in the derived products.

A team of Baron radar meteorologists and engineers had previously developed an innovative calibration routine for the nationwide dual polarisation upgrade to NEXRAD for the US National Weather Service, Federal Aviation Administration, and Department of Defense, conducting a calibration routine during the approximately six second period of antenna retrace following a completed volume scan. For the Gen3 series, that routine was adapted and enhanced to provide continuous automated bin by bin ZDR calibration.

Previously, radar systems could only be calibrated once or twice a year. On site personnel needed to wait for clear, rain free days, where they could halt weather surveillance, and reorient the antenna to azimuth angle.

✛ www.baronweather.com

How Baron is innovating to improve the accuracy, longevity and efficiency of weather radar networks

Baron won the tender to build Zimbabwe a national radar network consisting of multiple Baron Gen 3 C band and X band radars

ZDR, often called ‘differential reflectivity’, serves as the basis for these calibrations. ZDR was chosen due to its importance for calculating hydrometeor classification.

Once foundational dual pol moments were calibrated to .1dB accuracy, it was found that all other data products would follow, benefitting from the improvements.

Now, next generation calibration technology solves several of these operational challenges: first, no human interaction is involved, avoiding calibration errors, and enabling reliable network-wide calibration.

Calibration can be performed in any weather; the new technique accounts for rain and other detrimental effects (for example, seams, bird droppings and natural wear) on the radome, and requires no solar measurements. Additionally, no hardware measurements are needed, reducing equipment needs and the opportunity for error.

Clutter suppression Clutter caused by terrain, moisture, buildings — even bird and insect migrations — can wreak havoc on an accurate radar display, and in turn, valueadded products generated by the radar.

In the late 2000s, the University of Oklahoma’s Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) developed the initial implementation of the CLEAN AP™ (Clutter Environment Analysis using Adaptive Processing) clutter filtering technique.

✛ www.baronweather.com

✛ Weather radar/Lidar

Baron partnered with OU, licensing CLEAN AP™ for exclusive use in its radar systems.

The advantages of CLEAN AP compared to older ground clutter filters include: • CLEAN AP™ performs automated clutter detection and suppression with no need for manual intervention.

• The need for clutter maps is eliminated through CLEAN AP™’s real time ground clutter detection capability.

• CLEAN AP™ uses adaptive data windowing that accomplishes a good compromise between clutter suppression and data quality.

• CLEAN AP™ is an integrated process providing a single algorithm for ground clutter detection and filtering on a bin by bin basis.

The unique clutter filtering ability of CLEAN AP™ is vital when being used as part of an integrated network. By greatly improving the accuracy of base data, benefits occur throughout the entire system, from data collection and integration to forecast models, ultimately leading to more effective forecasts and alerting for the general public.

Remote monitoring and maintenance Every meteorological organisation deals with the continuing balance of technical demands, weighed against a relative lack of personnel and financial resources. The Gen3 radar series’ built-in test equipment (BITE) continuously monitors system status. Evaluated parameters include temperature of vital systems, power supply voltages and currents, waveguide switch positions, transmitter performance, calibration status and more.

If the diagnostics detect any faults, operators are automatically notified via email and the system monitor interface itself. This capability allows any issues to be corrected before the system fails.

Additionally, because of the modular system architecture inherent to Baron Gen3 radar, system components are more easily replaced.

The end result is that users experience more productive uptime, with less personnel and better accuracy, throughout their meteorological detection network.

Modular design was employed, allowing users to easily upgrade or replace components as the need requires. Maximum commonality between systems

✛ 75

CLEAN AP™ trademark owned by The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma.

means that users can keep spare parts in stock for use across the whole network, enabling faster replacement of components, and lower costs.

Unparalleled support Baron Gen3 systems are now active around the world, provided in fixed, transportable and mobile designs. C band, X band, S band and high frequency S band configurations are available.

This highlights the need for outstanding support.

Baron operates a worldwide operations centre that is manned 24/7/365 by degreed meteorologists who are knowledgeable about radar and weather, globally providing Baron customers with unparalleled support. This same team can monitor the BITE diagnostics 24/7/365, providing a supporting role as a full radar operations centre (ROC), providing customers with peace of mind and maximum return on investment all the way to the field.

One of the initial Gen3 installations, performed for a commercial entity in the US, resulted in the high frequency S band system successfully detecting the outer fringes of Hurricane Matthew while the storm was well offshore, and obtaining extremely accurate, high resolution measurements once the storm approached the radar site.

This was accomplished within hours of the radar’s installation, with its scheduled completion accelerated as the storm’s path was predicted to make landfall. ✛ Author: Michael Richardson, Marketing Communications Manager, Baron

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✛ 77

✛ Weather radar/Lidar

Radar to mitigate extreme weather Climate change is arguably the biggest challenge facing the world today. Sadly, the consequences are likely to be felt most acutely in developing countries which not only have fewer resources to combat extreme weather, but also suffer badly from the damage these events can cause to their economies.

Sure, we cannot prevent extreme weather, but we can mitigate its effects. Precise meteorological observation and improved forecasts are key, and state-of-the art sensors and pertinent forecasting software tools are fundamental. So how can meteorological sensors – in this case weather radars – make an important contribution?

Information from weather radars is used to predict the formation of typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes and other severe weather events, and to follow their course. They also are used in predicting the potential for flash floods, high winds and lightning potential.

The ability to monitor the 3D atmosphere across a wide geographical area in real-time is key to weather surveillance and warning.

Weather radars are the best choice amongst the currently available sensors. There is no other ground-based weather sensor providing equivalent cost versus coverage ratios, making radar the most cost-effective solution NMHSs and civil aviation organisations can employ to minimise potential weather damage while improving daily forecasting.

Weather radar’s capacity to measure snow, hail, rain and winds from up to 450km makes it the benchmark meteorological tool that developing and developed countries should possess to lessen the pernicious effects of extreme weather as well as to improve the daily lives of billions.

So how can we as a weather radar manufacturing company contribute?

Customised solutions Leonardo Germany GmbH is the technology leader in weather radar systems. With 60 years of experience in maintaining and developing radars, a constant exchange of knowledge and opinions with scientific research institutes and universities, and experience serving customers worldwide in developed and developing countries, it possesses the necessary skills, proprietary tools, products and know-how to provide customised solutions to meet individual needs.

✛ www.de.selex-es.com

Leonardo offers a comprehensive suite of radar solutions, for networks of all sizes

Leonardo can provide an optimal solution for the unique characteristics of each user

Leonardo has over 500 Gematronik Weather Radar Systems operating in more than 80 countries. And its high-end engineered radars are at the vanguard of radar development.

Nearly 200 highly educated staff work in Leonardo’s factory in Neuss, Germany to design and build S-, C- and X-band radars. These staff are dedicated entirely to radar development, allowing Leonardo to offer the most innovative products and resources for the aviation and meteorological markets.

Radar types and applications Of the more than 800 radars registered in the WMO radar database, 53% are C-Band and 40% are S-Band. Leonardo is one of the few weather radar manufacturers covering the entire application range of meteorological radars; radars at X-Band frequency detect hazardous weather up to a range of 100km typically, C-Band radars cover a 200km range, and S-Band even reach out to 400 km and beyond.

The high-frequency X-Band (~10 GHz) features inherent physical advantages concerning sensitivity and clutter suppression performance as well as high temporal and special resolution.

X-Band radars are the only weather radars that can be deployed as mobile solutions at a reasonable cost. The main drawback of X-Band radar is the strong attenuation while propagating through precipitation and the limited span of measurable wind velocities. The Doppler dilemma limits the product of maximum measurable range and maximum measurable wind velocities to a constant factor solely depending on the radar’s frequency.

✛ www.de.selex-es.com

✛ Weather radar/Lidar

Leonardo install equipment at airports

However, X-Band radars have only 25% of the S-Band’s range-velocity-capabilities.

S-Band (~3 GHz) radars feature almost no attenuation and provide excellent unambiguous Doppler wind measurements. S-Band’s strength is in heavy precipitation regions and tropical areas, which is why the vast majority of radars in the tropics are S-band.

C-Band (~5 GHz) radars are a compromise between these X- and S-bands. Especially in moderate climate regions, C-Band may offer the ‘best-of-two-worlds’ and be the best value-formoney solution.

Although the coverage volume increases by a factor of four from X- to C-Band and from C-Band to S-Band, the investment and operational costs only increase by around 20% per frequency step.

Dual polarisation Nowadays, all radars benefit from dual polarisation techniques using the additional information from two simultaneous pulses in the horizontal and vertical polarisations. Dual polarisation measurements may overcome some rain attenuation issues and, as such, are a vital feature of X-Band applications.

Moreover, the true strength of dual polarisation is the suppression of non-meteorological echoes (clutter) and hydrometeor classification, enabling pattern recognition even within storm cells and turbulent precipitation fields. Of course, the increasing wavelength also implies an increase of the physical size of radar and its associated costs.

Radars also make use of different transmitter

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technologies. High-power transmitters using either Magnetron or Klystron vacuum tubes are still the market standard. After decades of extensive field-usage, tube transmitters have reached their optimum level of maturity providing excellent reliability at moderate lifecycle costs.

Solid-state transmitters are unquestionably the technology of the future - not necessarily because of system performance gain, but rather a decline in the price of solid-state components. Furthermore, the commercial break-even point of C- and S-Band is still five to 10 years ahead. Due to the estimated number of more than 2,000 tube-based weather radars in operation, tubes will be around for decades.

Finding the right solution Over the past 60 years, Leonardo has developed a complete design, product and support expertise, assisting new and experienced radar users from the initial stages of project development to the optimal solution per the unique characteristics of each user.

We consult users on various application and product scenarios through workshops, simulations, feasibility studies and siting recommendations, customised to their individual needs. Leonardo is unbiased as to product and technology as we can integrate our products into any existing meteorological network, providing pre-project consulting and capacity-building from single radar solutions to large network solutions.

When considering radar, users should consider many factors, always weighing costs versus technological benefit.

Throughout the lifecycle of the radar, Leonardo accompanies the users from basic problem solving to continuing education to full maintenance contracts. Consequently, Leonardo has the highest uptime in the industry and provides radar users with the most economical high-tech lifecycle costs of any other radar.

As developed and developing countries navigate ever-changing environmental challenges, Leonardo provides consulting and capacity-building services and solutions to combat and mitigate the harmful consequences of extreme weather. ✛ Authors: Lothar Schulte-Sasse, Head of Sales & Marketing, & Adam Shanks, Regional Sales Manager, Leonardo

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✛ 80

✛ Weather radar/Lidar

High-performance radar shields For centuries, the shield has protected mission resources, providing a high level of safety and security. Today, ‘radomes’ have a similar role in protecting your radar and communication antennas from extreme weather conditions and external dangers. Radomes are also engineered, integrated solutions that provide high-performance electromagnetic (EM) properties and low life-cycle costs for weather radar systems.

Weather radars are vital to the safety of human populations, crops and infrastructure. The long-term reliability and availability of these radars can be greatly enhanced with a properly selected radome.

The primary function of radomes, of course, is to shield the radar antennas from destructive and extreme weather events, while providing low radio frequencies transmit and receive signal loss with absolutely no artifacts. They also reduce the life-cycle costs of both the radar antenna and the radome system.

Weather radomes are not just for extreme weather. There are many locations with moderate conditions where radars experience multiple benefits (see box), resulting in high performance at low life-cycle costs.

The perfect radome for weather radars The ultra-critical mission of radars is helping to ensure safety of flight. In order to do this, the perfect radome has to be a highly engineered solution. The most widely produced radome type for the weather market is the ‘sandwich composite core’.

Tuned to specific radar frequencies. The best-performing radomes are tuned at the panel seams to reduce the scattering effects.

Quasi-random panels. An engineered design,

High-performance radomes • Accurate contact resolution in extreme winds, rain and temperatures • Low life-cycle costs of the radar • Shields radar against windblown hazards • High reliability and availability of radar systems • Provides high level of physical security

✛ www.L3T.com/ESSCO

Ground-based radomes are critical technology for weather tracking and forecasting

FAA Tower

quasi-random panels significantly improve the performance for both single- and dual-band radars.

Advanced materials. The perfect radome employs the latest advancements in composite materials that are widely used in the aerospace and Formula 1 industries. These important engineering factors contribute to a 20-year design life, maintaining the EM properties and the structural integrity to perform in all weather conditions.

Your partner in meteorology There are many suppliers of radomes. But only a few have been successful over decades and can be counted upon for support for decades to come.

L3 ESSCO is the global leader for sandwich composite radome shields for weather applications. Its field service network is second to none in supporting complex installations and providing preventive and corrective maintenance, in addition to technical support. L3 ESSCO is a division of L3 Technologies, an agile innovator and leading provider of global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, communications and networked systems, and electronic systems for military, homeland security and commercial aviation customers.

Through our strategic research and development investments, we have employed the most current technological innovations to deliver a perfect radome.

For example, our new Durashed® membrane material for metal space frame radomes is inherently hydrophobic (water beading and shedding) and never needs painting. This ensures high-performance electromagnetic properties during hard, wind-driven rains, as well as low life-cycle costs. ✛ Authors: Daran Eastridge, Vice President, Business Development & Marketing, & Joe Alvite, Director, International Business Development, L3 ESSCO

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✛ Weather radar/Lidar

Harnessing the potential of Lidar Raymetrics is a technology-driven, globally renowned atmospheric Lidar (light detection and ranging) manufacturer.

The company is developing innovative products to expand its market reach and strengthen its competitive market position. Raymetrics products are offered to a stable and diverse customer base including national weather services, renowned research and educational institutions, airports and meteorological services. Based in Athens with a global reach and ambition, Raymetrics is a company founded by scientists and engineers, using innovative Lidar technology to sense the atmosphere remotely.

How Lidar works The Lidar technique is based on the emission of short laser pulses in the atmosphere and the detection of the radiation scattered back towards the sensor. The spectral characteristics of the backscattered radiation allow the estimation of various atmospheric properties, while the time difference between the emission of the laser pulse and its detection gives information about the altitude that is being probed.

Advanced lidars have been used in a combination of emission and detection wavelengths, for example, for measuring the concentration and properties of atmospheric aerosols, the concentration of atmospheric gases, and the retrieval of temperature and relative humidity profiles.

Based on their own light source, Lidars can operate both day and night. Measurements during

✛ www.raymetrics.com

Innovative Lidar technology has moved from the lab to the real world, offering a multitude of atmospheric detection applications for NMHSs

3D scanning Lidar used in maritime campaign for gas emissions

daytime are naturally more challenging as solar radiation can interfere with the measurements.

However, this challenge can be overcome through a high-power system, spectrally narrow detection channels and optimised optomechanical design.

For many years, such Lidars have been confined to labs, but thanks to recent technological advancements, such systems have reached the maturity necessary for the long-term unattended measurements required by operational and research agencies.

Products and applications Raymetrics is the global leader and the world’s most experienced atmospheric Lidar manufacturer, with more than 17 years in the industry and sales all over the world. The company is always at the forefront of technological development, designing new products that address major meteorological parameters.

Our products can be used for various applications like dust detection and monitoring, temperature and humidity monitoring, incoming fog detection, visibility studies, volcanic ash detection, atmospheric profiling, early fire detection, PBL studies, cloud detection, dust monitoring for mining applications and many others.

The instruments integrate state-of-the-art technology developed in research laboratories in Europe with Raymetrics experienced in building robust, stand-alone systems, 3D scanning or vertical mode systems, able to operate 24/7 in all conditions. ✛

Raymetrics’ vertical Lidar Hatch overview

Author: Konstantina Efstathiou, Head of Sales, Raymetrics

Technology Leader in Weather Radar Systems

Leonardo designs and builds the most advanced weather radar systems in the world and is a key supplier to the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) project.

Leonardo has more than 500 high-end ‘METEOR’ weather radar systems installed worldwide, acquiring accurate, high-speed atmospheric data for precise detection of severe weather phenomena. Rainbow® 5, our state-of-the-art sensor management software, enables rapid data analysis and display.

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✛ Weather radar/Lidar

Mexico: Rainfall and storm monitoring Since 1992, Mexico has had a digital weather radar network of 12 C-band radar units, operated by the National Meteorological Service. Around 2007, a 13th C-band unit was added. A few other isolated weather radar units, operated by different institutions, have been installed since then. The original purpose of the network was to monitor tropical cyclones; therefore, most units were placed close to the coastline with limited view of the country´s interior due to its complex orographic condition.

The latest weather radar installed is an X-band doppler and dual polarisation radar manufactured by EWR Radar Systems. The radar, operated by the Water System of Mexico City, is located at Cerro de la Estrella, in the centre of the Valley of Mexico, which contains Mexico City and an approximate population of 22 million.

It was commissioned in June 2018. The original 13 units were all high powered (250kW) long-range units (300km). However, due to the complex orography, the investment required for these high-powered long-range units is not easily exploited in practice.

To achieve the long-range capability, locations on high peaks are chosen. This allowed the radars to monitor distant storms, but as a result, the radar data gathered was relatively high above the land surface of the valleys where most population lives, and commonly underestimated the real rainfall intensity at the ground.

The best example is the radar of Cerro de la

Radar coverage at Cerro de la Estrella for 1,000m above local ground level

✛ www.ewrradar.com

A case study illustrating how new technology is helping build effective radar networks in challenging environments.

The radar at Cerro de la Estrella, Mexico City (below and right)

Catedral located about 40km northwest of Mexico City at an altitude of 3720m over sea level, and about 1500m above the city´s land surface. At its longest operational range it has high altitude view all the way from above the Gulf of Mexico to above the Pacific Ocean. But its usefulness for urban applications in Mexico City and the surrounding conurbation is very limited due to the height of its measurement and the limited resolution over the ground (1km).

Another more recent example (the 13th unit) is the radar at Cerro del Mozotal located in southeast Mexico, also with similar operational constraints. In this case, the height of measurements over the largest city in the region, Tuxtla Gutierrez, is also too large for proper urban hydrology applications.

Alternative approach If orography does not allow for the full use of the long-range visibility for a radar, one can resort to cover the regions of interest with a set of lower power shorter range radars, which have also a lower cost per unit.

The graphic (see opposite) shows a simple map of the Mexico Valley basin (thick red line) with the contour of Mexico City and the surrounding State of Mexico (thin grey lines). The green polygon shows coverage (visibility) for 1000m above the local terrain surface around the Cerro de la Estrella radar location (circled cross symbol).

In none of the azimuthal directions does the

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✛ Weather radar/Lidar

polygon get to even 120km range due to the mountains surrounding the valley. All of Mexico City and almost the full Mexico Valley basin are covered. There is no need to spend the cost of a high power, long-range radar for this purpose.

Furthermore, the low power (800W) of the EWR 750 allows for an installation inside an urban area for which a high powered 250 to 400kW dual polarization radar would be problematic.

Of course, the problem of non-orographic obstacles arises inside an urban area. Fortunately, the presence of the Cerro de la Estrella hill, about 250m above the city´s ground level, allowed even the lowest elevation angle beam to pass over most of the high-rise buildings.

Another operational advantage of the solid state EWR 750 radar was the stability of the signal in changing environmental conditions and in time. The EWR 750 can scan simultaneously for reflectivity, doppler and dual pol parameters, allowing the high frequency (20/hour) of full sets of radar products coming out of a high-quality volume scan.

Over Mexico City the resolution is as high as 150m with a lowest sample just above 250m above ground level. Three standard scan operations were pre-programmed, a volume scan to a range of 33km, a volume scan to a range of 60km and a low elevation angle plan position indicator (PPI) scan to a range of 120km.

The second one is the initial standard operational scan which detects convection entering or being generated in a ring at least 27km around Mexico City at resolutions of about 300m. Under threat of convection over the main interest area, the operator can change to the first scan mode, still covering all of Mexico City but with an improved resolution of 150m.

The third pre-programmed scan mode is surveillance, mainly for (the usually dry) winter and first two thirds of spring. In this surveillance scan mode, the operator has a broad plan view repeated every 30 seconds, but no vertical structure of storms information.

Expanding the network Mexico´s government has been exploring the possibility of increasing the number of radars in the network to achieve something close to

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CLEAN AP™ trademark owned by The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma.

national coverage at reasonably low atmospheric levels.

Given the tropical characteristics of ample regions of Mexico, ‘plugging holes’ in the original network using only X-band radars does not make a lot of sense, due to the intrinsic possibility of beam attenuation at this band of operation (which in Mexico City, due to its high altitude, at least in the first rainy season, has not shown to be a problem).

However, similar technology (solid state, low power, short range, pulse compression) technology has been migrating from X-band radars to C-band radars, keeping partially its cost advantage.

Therefore, the future network design can include several units of C-band radars operating at ranges of up to 150 km. These radars would still operate at rather low power (under 5 kW) and could be installed in or close to urban areas.

The arrival of such technology, at present costs, can allow for more versatile, more effective national weather radar networks than the available in the past, especially important for mountainous developing countries. It also opens opportunity for local (state, municipal or city) governments to introduce hydro-met monitoring and early warning alert systems for problematic local urban locations. ✛ Author: Michel Rosengaus M., Hydrometeorological Expert, Senior Consultant, EWR Radar

Forecasting/ modelling

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88 nowcast Precise lightning alerts > 91 World Climate Service Seasonal and subseasonal forecasts > 94 Accuweather Collaborating with NMHSs > 97 IBL Software Engineering Efficient alerting in Malaysia > 101 Meteoblue Seamless global weather data

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Precise lightning data saves lives

✛ www.nowcast.de

nowcast is helping NMHSs across Africa increase safety and improve alert accuracy with its highly precise 3D lightning data

The nowcast LINET 3D lightning detection system developed at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Germany is the most accurate and most efficient in the market. Thanks to an intelligent antenna design and clever algorithms, detection accuracy is down to 75m on average and can even detect 2kA lightning flashes.

This unique accuracy combined with unparalleled cost efficiency is the reason why nowcast is known as the leading company for lightning research, detection, nowcasting and warning. Government institutions, multinational corporations and businesses entrust nowcast to provide them with total lightning visibility. nowcasting and cell storm tracking From the moment a thunderstorm evolves, cell tracking and nowcasting provide an accurate picture of its development. Cell tracking groups single lightning strikes into ‘thunderstorm cells’, which are then tracked by nowcasting to determine the expected speed and direction of the thunderstorm.

The fastest nowcasting algorithm available is rTNT (real-time tracking & nowcasting), which computes all lightning strikes in real time. Within minutes of the first strike, rTNT calculates the thunderstorm movement and provides a 60-minute preview. The resulting geographic polygons are displayed in nowcast’s web application LINET view, or can be integrated via SFTP or streaming as an XML feed into most GIS applications.

To establish the most efficient, reliable and “actionable” lightning safety system on the market, nowcast has conducted cutting-edge research into

combining the LINET system with locally installed electrostatic field mills. The results have been very positive and will define future lightning safety projects.

“All clear” with field mills Electrostatic field mills are used to detect local thunderstorm cells above or in the close vicinity of areas of interest such as airports, mines or sports venues. Through the measurement of electric field strength and variation the potential for lightning risk can be estimated.

When a field mill detects voltage less than 100V/m of a ‘fair field’ weather situation, we can safely assume there is no chance of a lightning flash in the vicinity.

As voltage increases, so does the chance of a lightning flash. However, it is not simply a case of setting a defined voltage limit or threshold and

Why lightning matters for insurance According to reinsurer Munich Re, natural catastrophes caused claims amounting to $160bn in 2018. Precise lightning data is vital in helping insurance customers better protect themselves and their insured property. On average, more than 50% of severe weather warnings

may be attributed to thunderstorms. In this regard, lightning detection and the quality of lightning data also play a significant part in issuing timely alerts.

The quality of lightning data also matters for swift digital claim verification. UBIMET’s Claims Information System

(CIS) offers insurance companies location-specific weather information regarding lightning, storms, hail and rain for the recent past. The online portal enables queries based on addresses and time periods. The results are displayed as an unequivocal yes/ no answer to determine

whether, for example, a claim is justified because lightning has really struck and caused damage.

In addition, historical hail analysis also helps better define appropriate premiums for certain regions based on historical weather data including highly precise lightning data.

✛ www.nowcast.de

✛ Forecasting/modelling

activating an action sequence according to this, as is currently the standard procedure with field mills.

Multiple variables from numerous data sources plus a robust algorithm is required to properly forecast an approaching/developing thunderstorm.

With a standalone field mill system, it is only possible to predict the probability of a lightning flash occurring in the next few minutes – not the actual positioning of the lightning strike. This is vital information to keep the area of interest safe, but does not offer considerable efficiency gains. The greatest efficiency gains are realised when a field mill system is used as a basis for an “all clear – area safe” process.

To maximise these gains the field mill system needs to be complemented with a precision lightning detection network. The combined data from both systems need to be processed in real time with a complicated algorithm and actionable data made available via an online solution. This was the most challenging aspect nowcast faced in developing a true total-lightning safety system.

Impact of precise lightning data By warning about an impending storm and precisely determining when a thunderstorm has passed, nowcast enables people to better protect themselves. Airports internationally use this highly precise lightning data to reduce downtime to a minimum while still ensuring optimum safety.

Lightning is also a common cause of power outages – usually either by hitting electrical equipment causing so-called ‘tripping’ or striking a tree which may fall on to a power line. By monitoring 3D lightning detection sysyem with LINET antenna (insert)

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Key user benefits of nowcast • Automated, reliable and transparent decision-making procedure • Based on highly precise, real-time lightning data • Visualised using the traffic light system

thunderstorm and lightning activity, grid stability may be safeguarded and power outages prevented as appropriate preventative measures are initiated.

Precise data is key. nowcast’s unique lightning safety concept combines data from three systems to provide airports with a superior decision-making base providing full situational awareness: • Thunderstorm nowcasting identifies the exact time when a thunderstorm will arrive at an airport; • nowcast high-precision lightning detection network registers all lightning activity in the vicinity of an airport and gives a clear indication when the first lightning strike will hit; • Network of field mills measures all electromagnetic activity directly above the airport and identify the precise moment for the “all clear”; • Big data algorithm combines data from nowcasting, lightning detection and field mills to indicate the perfect moment in time when to stop and resume operation; • Easy, intuitive and scientifically empirical visualisation using the traffic light system.

The nowcast method provides a highly accurate, technology-based support system for communities as well as multiple industries including aviation, energy and insurance businesses.

The combination of the LINET lightning detection system with electrostatic field mills provides a basis for decision making and the highest level of thunderstorm management. Ultimately, the system offers maximum safety and efficiency when managing a thunderstorm situation as all parameters are taken into consideration. ✛ Author: Richard Fellner, CEO, nowcast

✛ www.worldclimateservice.com

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Seasonal and subseasonal forecasts Scientists have used computers since the late 1950s to model the physics of the atmosphere and oceans and predict future patterns and events.

While weather forecasts have improved in recent decades, the requirements for processing and combining very large data sets have increased to successfully prepare and communicate the forecasts.

Long-lead weather and climate prediction today is a Big Data application which involves accessing large data volumes created by government organisations and adding value to the data with sophisticated calibration techniques. This difficult task is accomplished by the World Climate Service (WCS).

The subseasonal challenge Until recently, forecasts with leads longer than 14 days but less than a month or season were thought to be nearly impossible. Short-term weather forecasts are derived primarily from atmospheric initial conditions while for seasonal climate forecasts, boundary conditions such as tropical sea surface temperatures are most important.

Subseasonal forecasts, spanning approximately three to six weeks in the future, are based on information from both initial conditions and boundary conditions, but neither provide a strong basis for predictability – leaving subseasonal forecasts in a ‘no man’s land’ of predictability.

Despite this challenge, recent scientific advances in both climate modelling and statistical techniques have enabled regular, skillful subseasonal forecasts to be issued by governments and commercial entities, such as the WCS. International efforts, including the WMO S2S Prediction Project and NOAA’s Subseasonal Experiment, have recently expanded scientific understanding of subseasonal forecasting.

Successful subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) prediction requires foreseeing the likely future state of the climate system based on several independent sources of forecast information. Two of the most important are dynamical models of the atmosphere and statistical or analog models based on comparisons of present and past conditions.

Both require regularly downloading a substantial volume of data for post-processing as well as advanced knowledge of the statistical techniques required to convert the raw data into useful forms.

The World Climate Service, operated

by Prescient Weather, provides longlead forecasting tools supported by the best science available

The importance of initial and boundary conditions with forecast lead time

This task is challenging for NMHSs and forecasting organisations with limited or unreliable digital bandwidth and insufficient computing power.

Two well-known dynamic models are the NOAA Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFSv2) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts extended ensemble (ECMWF). Both provide ensemble forecasts for several weeks to months and seasons.

Ensemble modelling An ensemble forecast consists of many runs of the same forecast model with perturbed initial conditions. A primary objective of ensemble modelling is to sample the uncertainty of initial conditions and their impact on the forecast. Probabilities of specific weather and climate events, such as above or below normal temperatures, can be estimated by analysing the ensemble forecasts. However, this process must adequately address the systematic and random errors that arise from the uncertainty of the initial conditions, limited model grid resolution, and model physics approximations; these post-processing efforts are referred to as model calibration.

Long-lead dynamical forecast models should be calibrated to remove bias and improve forecast performance. The modelling centres producing dynamical S2S forecasts also produce retrospective forecasts (‘reforecasts’), which are long histories (up to 40 years) of ensemble forecasts created in an identical framework to the operational forecasts.

The reforecasts allow scientists to study and correct for model biases and improve estimated event probabilities; in particular, it is desirable to ensure that the predicted probability of events

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CFSv2 Ensemble

ECMWF Ensemble

✛ www.worldclimateservice.com

Multi-model Ensemble

Example of Week 3 (Subseasonal) lead time calibrated probabilistic tercile temperature forecast

corresponds to the observed frequency of events.

Model calibration, however, is a significant processing effo rt because of the volume of data (more than 125TB is required to prepare operational S2S forecasts similar to the WCS) and the sophistication of the statistical techniques.

While the use of a single ensemble model provides useful forecast information, a combination of two or more models can significantly increase forecast skill at all lead times. The chart below demonstrates this for tercile forecasts of probabilities of greater than 50% in particular, and shows that while the ECMWF model is generally better than the CFSv2, the multimodel ensemble is better than either model.

It also demonstrates that “high confidence” forecasts (indicating higher probabilities of specific events) tend as expected to verify correctly more often than “low confidence” forecasts. The calibration process helps to ensure that the probability predicted for specific events corresponds to the frequency at which the event is observed.

Analog forecasts and climate index tracking Other sources of information are important for enhancing the predictability of S2S events, but are also data intensive. There is growing interest in purely statistical prediction, and even simple analog analysis often provides valuable independent guidance for subseasonal and seasonal lead times.

An analog technique finds earlier states of the atmosphere or oceans that are similar to the present state and then uses the evolution of those earlier states as the forecast. Analogs provide value because they accurately represent the earth system’s physical processes, unlike dynamical models. However, because there are many degrees of freedom in the climate system it is difficult to

Fraction of tercile temperature, land-only, 3 week lead forecasts verifying as correct for winter (DJF), spring (MAM), summer (JJA), and autumn (SON) for calibrated CFSv2, ECWMF, and a multi-model ensemble of the two

find analogs fully representative of all aspects of a climate pattern.

Some climate indexes, such as the El Niño – Southern Oscillation, indicate that certain patterns or events may be expected and thus can be used in S2S forecast preparation. The WCS provides easy-to-use analog forecast tools for both subseasonal and seasonal time scales.

Creating the best possible subseasonal and seasonal forecasts for a country or a region requires processing significant volumes of data and applying tailored statistical methods to extract value. Likewise, forecasters must have access to appropriate tools, such as the WCS, which provide calibrated multi-model dynamical forecasts and analog or statistical guidance to support local long-lead forecast preparation. ✛ Author: Dr. Jan F. Dutton, CEO, Prescient Weather

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Forecasting: A vital public service The impacts of extreme weather and climate events globally continue to rise each year, resulting in loss of life, exposure risks, significant damage to property and adverse economic losses to communities.

For the past seven years, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report has consistently shown the three most likely and impactful global risks to business are all weather-related. The 2019 report identified extreme weather events as the number one global risk in terms of likelihood, and second in terms of impact.

Organisations are collecting and analysing more weather data than ever before, assisting governments, communities, businesses, and individuals to better understand and manage the risks from extreme weather and natural disasters.

Additionally, extreme weather events are increasingly well forecasted with accurate and timely warnings disseminated by NMHSs, but despite advancements in weather forecasts and warnings, extreme weather and natural disaster events continue to negatively impact humanity.

The challenge the Global Weather Enterprise faces is ensuring life-saving weather warnings reach the greatest number of people potentially impacted by hazardous weather with enough advance notice to allow people to take proactive steps to remain safe and out of harm’s way.

Since 2014, AccuWeather has partnered with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on a key Weather-Ready Nation

AccuWeather collaborates with NMHSs to distribute weather warnings

✛ accuweather.com

AccuWeather works collaboratively with NMHSs to drive awareness of hazardous weather and save lives globally

initiative as one of its first programme ambassadors to help build preparedness and resilience to extreme weather, water and climate events. Today, AccuWeather is actively working to make people of all nations “weather-ready” through collaborations with NMHSs. AccuWeather partners with NMHSs to disseminate critical official government weather warnings to a large global audience quickly and accurately, while maintaining and strengthening each government’s authoritative voice for weather warnings.

Together, we save lives, prevent harm and mitigate economic loss from natural disasters.

Mutually beneficial partnerships “Save lives, protect property, and help people prosper.” This excerpt from AccuWeather’s mission statement is shared with many NMHSs. This public service mission has been part of AccuWeather’s focus for more than 56 years. During this time, we have been saving lives by providing the most accurate weather forecasts and warnings integrated into our innovative products.

Today, AccuWeather distributes official government warnings from nearly 60 countries and territories globally. AccuWeather works collaboratively with NMHS to amplify the distribution of life-saving weather warnings and other natural disaster event notices like flooding, earthquakes and air quality, both within individual countries and globally. This is achieved by utilising AccuWeather’s robust and flexible distribution platform as well as AccuWeather’s vast and well-established user base.

Understanding that many countries have multiple official languages in which warning messages are communicated and disseminated, AccuWeather’s technology easily allows warning information to be delivered in as many languages as required. The warning type is also translated into all of AccuWeather’s more than 200 languages and dialects so that users will be aware of the type of warning issued regardless of the language they speak.

Additionally, AccuWeather’s technology automatically sends warnings via push notification to mobile devices to prominently display the important message on the user’s screen, even if the device is not being used. This vital and unique

✛ accuweather.com

✛ Forecasting/modelling

AccuWeather delivers warnings in more than 200 languages

capability is provided only by AccuWeather and serves as an important distribution channel for governments to deliver timely warnings to the public so people can proactively take action and remain safe.

Collaboration with AccuWeather enables virtually all residents and visitors of a country to receive actionable weather warnings by building upon the NMHS’s trusted voice for weather warnings in addition to AccuWeather’s global digital expertise.

These collaborations are intended to complement existing efforts by NMHSs to distribute important weather warnings in collaboration with media organisations, emergency managers, civil protection and others.

Weather warnings are always prominently highlighted within all products and interactive maps on AccuWeather’s popular apps and websites, so it is easy for users to know if a warning is in effect for their city or location.

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AccuWeather works closely with NMHS partners to ensure any weather warnings displayed are clearly marked as coming from the official agency.

Additionally, the original official warning text received directly from the government agency is displayed and no modifications are made by AccuWeather.

Spread your message further Over more than 56 years, we have built our reputation as the world’s leading provider of weather forecasts and warnings with Superior Accuracy™ and the world’s most trusted weather brand. By providing the most reliable and accurate forecasts with greater detail on location and impact, further ahead than any other source, we work collaboratively to ensure life-saving weather warnings and information reach the greatest number of people potentially impacted by hazardous weather.

AccuWeather charges no fees to deliver NMHSs’ official weather warnings to a larger audience through AccuWeather products, which furthers the fulfilment of a government’s public service mission.

This type of collaboration jointly takes weather distribution to a higher and broader level in countries around the world. Today, all citizens and visitors to these countries are more “weather-ready” and more aware of hazardous and impactful weather events.

Ultimately, these partnerships assist in saving lives, protecting property, and helping people plan their day. Through this type of mutually beneficial partnership, AccuWeather assists government agencies in delivering true public service. ✛ Author: Matthew Alto, Manager, Global Data Partnerships, AccuWeather

Raising awareness locally and globally We have received feedback from many users who were unaware their government provided life-saving warnings until they saw them rebroadcasted on

AccuWeather’s digital products. The combination of AccuWeather’s global platform – which reaches two billion people each day – and the NMHS’s weather

data proficiency results in the highest quality distribution mechanism possible for alerting citizens and visitors about significant and impactful

weather. Drawing attention to hazardous and impactful weather events helps to saves lives, protects property and helps people prosper.

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Efficient alerting and forecasting in Malaysia Malaysia is a rapidly developing economy in Southeast Asia – a federation of 13 states with neighbours, Singapore and Thailand and Borneo.

Its location near the equator and surrounded by sea leads to a hot and humid climate with periods of heavy rains and thunderstorms. The wettest season is during the northeast monsoon from October to March when the winds coming from China and the north Pacific bring intense precipitation that sometimes leads to severe floods.

The Malaysian Meteorological Directorate, headquartered near Kuala Lumpur and with eight regional offices, provides a round-the-clock service of forecasts and alerts for the general public, aviation industry, government agencies and marine users.

Limitations of its software systems made the production of warnings and forecasts a struggle for Malaysia. A lot of work was required to bring the products into the hands of users.

Warnings were manually drawn using a general-purpose computer painting program and uploaded by the staff to social media and websites. The warning had to be painstakingly translated into text in Malay and English languages for archival, emailing, mobile app and faxing.

A shortened SMS version was prepared by hand.

Forecasts for 350 locations had to be manually entered. Including tens of derived forecasts, this process took hours to complete.

Weather Drawboard showing temperatures

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Case study: How modernised forecasting tools bring benefits for the general public

Forecast viewer on the Weather Drawboard

Weather Drawboard IBL Software Engineering took up the challenge to improve the tools used by forecasters and bring greater automation into the workflow. IBL focuses on weather solutions customised to meteorologists’ needs. The company has its headquarters in Slovakia and its software is powering weather services globally.

The result of the co-operation between Met Malaysia and IBL is ‘Weather Drawboard’ – a collaborative web application for drawing forecasts and alerts which are published via social media including Facebook, the public Met Malaysia website, SMS, emails and PDFs for easy printing and faxing.

The tools enable staff at the regional offices to forecast collaboratively in a geographic context on an Open Street Maps background. Similarly to Google Docs, everything works in real-time without users having to use a save function.

The ability to see the work being done at neighbouring centres in real-time gives users a better understanding of the situation and allows for more consistency across state borders. Weather does not follow political boundaries.

The use of standard web technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript and Web Sockets reduces maintenance expenses. No installation or upgrades are necessary in the regional offices besides having a modern web browser.

When meteorologists do their part, the system takes over and generates and publishes products without adding burden on the shoulders of the staff. Reduction in time needed to produce a

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warning helps to get the information into the hands of the public faster and allows regional authorities to react more rapidly to situations.

WMO GMAS ready Global Multi-Hazard Alert System (GMAS) is an initiative to aggregate weather warnings produced

by WMO nations into a modern, simple-to-use website for use by the public and UN agencies. A project of this kind in Europe is Meteoalarm. It is accessed 12 million times per day during warning situations.

The data exchange protocol of GMAS is called the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). WMO encourages nations to adopt this protocol to facilitate the integration of warnings across the globe.

Warnings issued by Malaysia are produced in CAP ready for integration into GMAS. This was achieved by leveraging the IBL Visual Weather platform used by several European countries to send CAP to Meteoalarm.

Data exchange The world of meteorological telecommunications is constantly evolving and there are many challenges a meteorological office must face – especially with respect to new data formats and communication technologies that are necessary in order to keep up with new demands.

The modernised IBL Moving Weather meteorological switching system allows Met Malaysia to publish posts containing a text and/or picture directly to social media such as Facebook and Twitter. This is combined with the automatic production of heavy rain and thunderstorm warnings. The switching system is also capable of the delivery of warnings using the CAP protocol.

In addition to that, the upgraded version of the

Weather Drawboard key features • Web application for drawing weather alerts • Real-time collaboration • Social media integration for rapid alerting • GMAS compatability • Standard web technology for low maintenance costs • Able to handle and convert aeronautical messaging

✛ www.iblsoft.com

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Weather Drawboard alert using Facebook

IBL Moving Weather switching system brought Met Malaysia on par with modern technologies and data formats, especially for aviation demands. This includes the ability to handle and convert aeronautical IWXXM 2.1 messages in the same way as other, more traditional formats (TAC, BUFR) and to exchange them with aeronautical offices using the AMHS network (which is ICAO’s replacement for the now outdated AFTN and CIDIN networks). Met Malaysia is now able to use the Extended AMHS profile which is necessary for transmitting and receiving IWXXM data to aviation users.

Benefits for users The Malaysian Meteorological Directorate has stepped into an era of automation and of more tailored information and warning production, which is seamlessly delivered to real world users in the format they expect. Weather affects daily life in Malaysia in many ways – for both the public and private sectors as well as the general public, precise on-time information is crucially beneficial.

IBL Software Engineering is therefore proud to have been a partner of Met Malaysia for such an important project and to be able to make use of its weather software expertise and tools to bring real benefits to the entire country. ✛ Authors: Boris Burger, Solution Architect, & Vladimir Klimovsky, Product Manager, IBL Software Engineering

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✛ www.meteoblue.com/en

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Seamless global weather data meteoblue AG is a Swiss technology leader in the production and supply of high-precision weather and environmental data, using observation data, high-resolution numerical weather predictions (NWP) and specialised data output methods adapted to the needs of different customer groups.

The company supplies seamless hourly weather data from 1984 up to 14 days ahead for every place on Earth, with more than 100 variables in consistent and rapidly retrievable datasets. meteoblue started producing weather data in 2007 and by 2013 was producing the largest data volume of any private EU weather service daily, in hourly detail, mainly using proprietary modelling technology.

With the global NEMS30 model put in operation in 2013, meteoblue constructed the first global seamless hourly weather history reaching from the current day back to 1984 and available for online instant access via API and web interfaces.

Multi-model integration With the increasing availability of open data, meteoblue has pioneered the integration of multiple models from different sources in display and simulation technology.

This culminated in 2018 in the introduction of the meteoblue Learning Multi-Model (mLMM), which employs artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve an hourly MAE of 1.2°C for 24-hour ahead temperature forecasts on global average, a new benchmark for forecast precision.

Multi-model techniques are also employed to achieve top levels of precision for relative humidity, wind speed, precipitation and radiation.

The precision forecasting systems are further enhanced with nowcasting based on station measurements and remote sensing.

With a peta-byte size storage array, meteoblue also offers a unique range of worldwide hourly historic weather data reaching back to 1984, which can be accessed instantly online.

The historic dataset is updated daily with forecasts for the next six days, based on the NEMS30 model, which generates all relevant weather variables.

meteoblue provides accurate, high-precision forecasts and historical data for any location on Earth

Table 1.1 Key elements of the meteoblue precision data offer Element

Offer

Description

Global coverage

Weather data for any place on Earth

➢ Land and Sea; ➢ Ground and Air; ➢ High resolution (3-10 km)

Unique Time Range

Gapless hourly data repository from 1984 to forecasts for 7-14 days

➢ 7-14 day + season forecast; ➢ >35 years history; ➢ Hourly, Gapless, consistent

Unique Data Range

Hundreds, including unique, variables

➢ >100 Variables; ➢ Predictability + other indices; ➢ Customisation

Top Precision

Simulations with maximum proven accuracy

➢ Record MAE of 1.2°C worldwide for hourly temperature; ➢ Quality control; ➢ Public documentation

Multiple Sources

Easy choice of best data source

➢ Simulation, Observation, Measurement; ➢ Live updates; ➢ „Best of“ selection

Easy Access

High-speed delivery of data, images, etc.

➢ Website, App, E-Mail, API, others; ➢ Data, Images, Movies, others; ➢ Instant results: lightning fast

!

!

!

!

!

!

This series enables: • construction of climate data series over 35 years; • risk analysis for any relevant variable, such as frost, heat or drought stress; heavy precipitation, storms, etc.; • detection of major single events; • comparison of sites for any place in the world; • determination of infrastructure requirements (such as building heating or cooling, flood risk, etc); • index-based insurance solutions based on standardised daily data output; • construction and operation of seasonal models for crop, disease; • measurement plausibility check and gap filling; • other henceforth unique applications yet to be discovered.

This 30km resolution dataset is complemented by high-resolution of 4-10km resolution for most economically important regions of the world, with up to 10 years of data, using the same core model of NEMS, as well statistical processing to adjust for differences caused by the change in resolution.

Further, a range of more than 20 additional weather models is available with at least one full year of hourly data, enabling selection of the most

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✛ Forecasting/modelling

suitable model. The archive also enables instant access to the most up-to-date re-analysis models, such as ERA5, CMOPRH and CHIRPS and ARC2, as well as METEOSAT and other satellites, with data from all these models available for online query.

This unique data range is available via API, web-based interfaces (history+), and a unique web interface (history PRO), which provides a guided analysis platform for timeseries (1D) and spatial timeseries data (4D), making it possible to do spatially consistent analysis covering entire continents.

The platform allows combining datasets of different geocoding and spatial or temporal resolution while interactively defining the analysis equations to be executed on the meteoblue cloud.

Verifiable accuracy meteoblue conducts extensive and regular verification of all simulation models used, comparing them to actual measurement and observation data, thereby ensuring that services deliver top-quality and continuously improving weather data, both historic and forecast. meteoblue is the first commercial weather service that regularly publishes forecast verification data on the company website, having

✛ www.meteoblue.com/en

done so since 2010, as well as daily local accuracy updates. These have become the highest published accuracy scores in the industry (see table 1.2) meteoblue offers sector-specific weather information for businesses from agriculture, renewable energy, transportation, automotive, telecommunications, air traffic, media and outdoor, property management and others, to leading global technology players and innovative start-ups.

Weather data can easily and quickly be accessed in customised formats via the meteoblue API for integration into users’ own systems.

The huge amount of weather information is available as raw data, images, maps, movies and reports. Tailored products like the meteoblue apps, widgets meteoTV and meteoMail are offered for special customer needs.

With a track record of innovation in the weather service business, meteoblue has thus grown from a small university project in 2006 into a debt-free global service provider with customers in more than 50 countries and technology partners in various industries. ✛ Author: Karl Gutbrod, CEO, meteoblue

Table 1.2 Comparison of mean absolute error (MAE) for four meteorological parameters across more than 10,000 weather stations worldwide (based on measurements recorded in 2017) Model approach

Air temperature

Wind speed

Annual precipitation

Dewpoint temperature

1.2 K

–

170 mm (≈26%)

–

Model output statistics (MOS)

1.5 K

1.2 m s-1

–

1.7 K

Weather forecast models

1.7 K-2.2 K

1.5 m s-1 -1.7 m s-1

Real-time updates (NEMS30)

2.1 K

1.7 m s-1

Reanalysis

1.5 K

1.5 m s-1

meteoblue learning multimodel (mLMM) Forecast

History w

220 mm-230 mm (≈35%) 220 mm (≈34%) 120 mm-180 mm (≈18%-28%)

1.9 K-2.4 K

2.2 K

1.6 K

07

Weather risk solutions

105 Wx Risk Global Financial protection with weather derivatives > 108 The Weather Company AI-enhanced weather service

✛ www.wxriskglobal.com

✛ Weather risk solutions

Weather protection Wx Risk Global is a global weather risk solutions company that provides weather and natural peril protection products and services to individuals, organisations, cities and nations worldwide, who have the greatest potential of falling victim to climate-related financial loss.

Our company also functions to educate relative to the advantages of using weather protection products for income security, natural peril preparedness, and alternative relief and recovery financing.

Furthermore, the goal of Wx Risk Global is to assist organisations to raise and receive funds for the support and enhancement of disaster relief and recovery efforts on a global scale.

Wx Risk Global’s Purpose is to use financial tools to design viable weather risk protection solutions for entities that have significant exposure to volatile weather conditions. These tools include: • Comprehensive analysis and consultation.

Performing a comprehensive budget analysis of each financial transaction to establish customised protection programmes.

• Price discovery. Discovering the best prices available for protection within its network of trusted suppliers.

• 24/7 monitoring. Monitoring the customised weather protection programme to track its effectiveness for further improvement as well as the occurrence of the event.

What is weather protection?

Weather protection (also known as ‘weather derivatives’ or ‘certificates’) are financial contracts that provide payment for bad or unexpected weather conditions. Weather protection is typically valued, priced, and paid based on specified observed weather conditions from official government weather stations.

Weather conditions could include, for example, total rainfall over a relevant period or the number of days in which the minimum temperature falls below zero degrees Celsius (‘frost days’).

Who uses them?

Met services, governments, non-government organisations, and many industries can benefit from weather protection. Agriculture is a great

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Tools are available that can protect farmers, businesses and governments against the financial risks of extreme weather conditions

example, as farmers are exposed to many types of weather risks.

More specifically, temperature and rainfall are two important factors in growing any crop. Farmers can use weather protection to recover losses from poor harvests caused by: • Lack of rains during the growing period; • Excessive rain during harvesting; • High winds in case of plantations and sensitive fruits and vegetables; • Temperature variabilities in case of greenhouse crops.

Why use weather protection?

Weather protection eases the burden of financial losses due to bad weather. If weather conditions are good, the buyer enjoys the benefits of a successful business period. If weather conditions are bad, the buyer can be assured that losses will be compensated with money that can be used for anything needed.

Mission, values and vision Wx Risk Global cannot exist without functioning in accordance with its mission, values and vision.

The spirit of our values provides our team with the realisation that every day we are in pursuit of something much larger than personal successes.

As such, all strategic decisions of the company are made in order to do our part in making the world a better place.

We understand that what we do is important.

The impact that we are capable of providing to

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✛ Weather risk solutions

✛ www.wxriskglobal.com

“Our mission is to alleviate the financial burdens of weather uncertainty for all who are exposed”

the world brings progress to both social action and environmental protection. Therefore, our company is focusing its efforts on these aspects.

We constantly introduce the newest innovations within the realm of weather risk protection and pursue the best course of action to protect all from the negative effects of weather on finances.

Our mission is to alleviate the financial burdens of weather uncertainty for all who are exposed.

Our company recognises the intricate connection between quality of life and the environment. Accordingly, we believe that as more cost-effective and less resource-depleting solutions to protecting finances from adverse weather become more accessible, so too comes the decrease of our global carbon footprint.

Furthermore, as a result of this environmental relief, the weather will also normalise, making its impact less of a detriment to human wellbeing.

Humanity and environment are our values.

We defend these values as we protect you from adverse weather.

An unwavering commitment to our mission, values and vision is based on the understanding that what we provide is not meant to be a luxury for a select few, but rather a necessity for all and the environment.

Wx Risk Global is by its very nature a company that devotes all available resources to creating and initialising the implementation of weather risk mitigating solutions, no matter the unique needs of the client.

Our vision is a world in which weather protection is a human right and not a privilege.

While providing Weather Risk Solutions to for-profit corporations is an important aspect of our business, Wx Risk Global primarily dedicates its efforts towards partnering with organisations to develop programmes that promote social and environmental impact.

These programme-related investments provide philanthropists the ability to finance weather protection solutions for those who are incapable of protecting themselves. ✛ Author: Rebecca Leonardi, Partner, Wx Risk Global

How weather protection works  With the assistance of Wx Risk Global, the weather conditions that cause financial losses are identified.

Example: During the growing season (1 August - 30 October), farmers begin to see crop degradation as rainfall totals fall short of 10mm, with coverage up to a

limit of $1,000.  Based on the identified weather conditions, Wx Risk Global designs a weather protection contract that provides “emergency cash” when the weather conditions are present.

Example: For a one-time upfront cost of $100, farmers

will be paid $100 for each mm less than 10mm, up to a limit of $1,000 at the end of the growing season (1 August 30 October).  The weather protection contract is secured by paying the upfront cost of $100 (known as the ‘premium’).  The weather protection

contract period occurs.  Final settlement is calculated, reported and paid based on the weather conditions observed by the weather station specified in the contract.

Example: During the growing season, it rained a total of 5mm. Therefore, the farmer will be paid $500.

Put weather to work.

Transform the most accurate weather data into personalized, actionable insights using artificial intelligence to help reach your citizens faster with vital and hyperlocal information that is relevant to their needs and potentially crucial to their safety. www.ibm.com/weather weather@us.ibm.com 978.983.6300

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✛ Weather risk solutions

Enhanced weather service

✛ www.business.weather.com

How The Weather Company, an IBM business, is harnessing AI and weather insights for the public good

Let’s face it – the weather can be disastrous.

From droughts to typhoons and everything in between, extreme weather impacts nearly every aspect of human life, endangering people and wreaking havoc on economies.

While we can’t the change the weather, we may be able to improve outcomes if we can understand how it will affect citizens and infrastructures.

Achieving this insight starts with a reliable forecast. The more accurate the prediction, the better we can prepare for what it is to come.

Weather impact Creating accurate forecasts – both for the weather and the way it will affect traffic, utilities and public safety – begins with data. The more information we collect and the higher the quality of that data, the better we can anticipate what is to come.

Insight into these impacts can drive significant value for the public sphere. For example, the faster a government recognises that an oncoming storm will likely cause dangerous flooding, the sooner it can notify citizens – either directly or through local broadcasters and news outlets – to evacuate to a safer region.

Beyond the weather A recent study by ForecastWatch1 found that The Weather Company, an IBM Business, delivers the most accurate weather forecasts for most regions.

IBM recently announced that it will soon bolster these capabilities with a new Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecast (GRAF) System, the first hourly updating commercial weather system (see box below).

IBM’s Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecast (GRAF) is designed to provide a nearly 200% improvement in forecasting resolution

But gathering quality data is just the first step to good forecasting. To drive real value, organisations must understand why this information matters.

How will weather impact budgets, infrastructure and public safety?

That’s why solutions from The Weather Company, an IBM Business, are designed to transform data and forecasts into personalised, actionable insights through the application of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and advanced analytics.

For example, Watson Decision Platform for Agriculture combines data such as weather, soil conditions, satellite imagery, insights from other growers and information gathered from equipment into a single electronic field record (EFR).

Much like an electronic health record – though designed for a field rather than a human body – the EFR provides a single source of truth for growers and stakeholders across the industry. By

The GRAF System Using advanced IBM POWER9-based supercomputers and information crowdsourced from smartphones, personal weather stations and in-flight data, IBM’s Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecast (GRAF) is designed

to provide a nearly 200% improvement in forecasting resolution when compared to existing models.

GRAF is designed to help people and organisations around the world access more accurate weather forecasts by

providing three kilometre resolution which updates hourly, and by delivering reliable predictions for the day ahead. The system will draw on previously untapped Internet of Things (IoT) data such as aircraft sensors to help overcome the lack

of specialised weather equipment in many parts of the world. The model will also leverage pressure sensor readings sent from barometers in opt-in smartphone users and data from hundreds of thousands of weather stations.

✛ www.business.weather.com

✛ Weather risk solutions

applying AI and advanced analytics to the EFR, the solution helps the industry achieve benefits such as increased yields, reduced crop diseases and better decision-making about in-season trading.

Government clients may gain similar benefits from combining accurate weather data with advanced technologies. For many geographies, the impacts of weather can be not only devastating, but also diverse.

Solutions from The Weather Company use hyperlocal forecast and historical information to help government agencies anticipate how weather is likely to affect public well-being for a certain area.

This understanding helps sharpen the process for making decisions, such as whether an area should be evacuated due to an impending hurricane or if citizens should stay indoors to avoid intense heat or cold.

Various government agencies – such as law enforcement or transportation departments – may also leverage these technologies to anticipate how weather will impact local traffic patterns so they can prepare accordingly.

Sharing information across platforms With these insights available, the third step is ensuring that the information is effectively communicated to people who need it. This can be a daunting challenge as the amount of organisations vying for your public’s attention increases rapidly.

It is no longer enough to simply make your content available on mobile devices. To succeed in engaging your users, you must create a superior, connected experience across platforms that delivers information tailored for their needs and interests.

Fortunately, advancements in AI and automation are driving significant leaps in the detection and impacts of weather and traffic conditions as well as strategies for delivering useful, relevant information to your audience.

This new cognitive era of communication helps enhance your story-telling so that users understand the information and impact.

As the heart of the Max ecosystem – offered by The Weather Company – Max Engage with Watson can automatically send geo-targeted mobile alerts

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Extreme weather events, such as typhoos, impact nearly every aspect of human life

and videos to help reach your intended audience faster with vital and hyperlocal information that is relevant to their needs and potentially crucial to their safety.

The solution is designed to complement your teams in ways that help them do their jobs better, bolstering their expertise with AI-driven insights that are backed by rich data sets and extensive machine learning capabilities.

Serving the public good As evolving technologies continue to sharpen weather forecasting, governments are presented with an opportunity to help improve the lives of citizens by anticipating how climate will impact their lives and making recommendations based on those insights.

Solutions from The Weather Company are designed to assist government agencies in making more informed decisions by providing accurate, personalised and actionable weather insights.

The potential results can help boost public wellbeing, mitigate damages and streamline services while also increasing engagement between a government and its citizens.

It’s time to put weather to work. ✛ Author: Steve France, Media Sales Principal, The Weather Company 1. www.forecastwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/Three_ Region_Accuracy_Overview_2010-2017.pdf

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A-Z

DIRECTORY

of vendors

A 385 Science Park Road, State College, PA 16803, United States www.AccuWeather.com E: sales@accuweather.com T: +1-814-235-8633 Over 1.5 billion people worldwide rely on AccuWeather, which partners with all major mobile device manufacturers, media, and government and business entities, including more than half of the Fortune 500 and thousands more globally. AccuWeather works with leading NMHSs to allow wider dissemination of official government warnings to mitigate loss from natural disasters globally.

AccuWeather provides SkyGuard® Severe Weather Warnings with Superior Accuracy and customised weather-driven analytics, providing businesses with actionable insights.

353 Main Street, Longmont, Colorado, United States www.anemoment.com E: info@anemoment.com T: +1-720-600-7241 Anemoment makes and sells the TriSonica™ Mini — an ultralightweight tiny ultrasonic 3-dimensional anemometer — plus our datalogger and related equipment. The TriSonica™ Mini anemometer has no moving parts to wear out, and its sturdy compact size, light weight, and efficient power consumption make it a handy tool to “know the wind” for agriculture, micro-climates, urban areas, rugged terrain, remote locations, hazardous-materials cleanup, turbulence studies, and atmospheric boundary layer research.

2400-1111 West Georgia St, Vancouver, BC, V6E 4M3, Canada www.aquaticinformatics.com E: info@aquaticinformatics.com T: +1-877-870-2782, +1-604-8732782 Aquatic Informatics is a leading software company in organizing the world’s water data to make them accessible and useful. We provide solutions to more than 1,000 customers in 60 countries.

Aquatic Informatics’ is unique in that we provide data management solutions for the entire water cycle: source water, drinking water, wastewater, permitted industrial users, FOG, and the receiving environment.

Our customers include more than 500 municipalities, and hundreds of

✛ Directory

federal, state, and district agencies, hydropower companies and private industries.

B Klincova 35, Bratislava, 82108, Slovakia www.baranidesign.com E: sales@baranidesign.com T: +42 1948067125 (Slovakia) Manufacturer of the MeteoHelix AWOS, professional meteorological sensors and weather stations designed to meet WMO requirements and be affordable. Its helical technology enables automatic weather stations equipped w ith the helical MeteoShield to easily reach and maintain WMO precision measurements in all environmental conditions with minimal sensor service and maintenance due to its protective properties. ISO certified and in business since 2003. Product portfolio includes ezMETAR AWOS, AWOS, Anemometers, Temperature & Humidity sensors, GSM / LTE Data logger, Internet of Things (IoT) weather stations and more.

4930 Research Dr., Huntsville, Alabama, 35805, United States www.baronweather.com E: bbj@baronweather.com T: +1-256-881-8811 Baron is the leading provider of critical weather intelligence. Our Gen3 series of weather radar provides the highest available accuracy, enabled through groundbreaking clutter filtering and automated calibration technologies.

Baron weather modeling solutions are extremely diverse, from numerical weather prediction and hydrology to air quality and agricultural modeling solutions. The Baron Lynx system serves as a visualization hub for all the data inputs within a meteorological organization, while web distribution and alerting solutions allow forecasters to protect the public by sending life-saving push notifications. With Baron, weather organisations are more successful in their operations, and the public is safer.

C 815 West 1800 North, Logan, Utah, 84321, United States www.campbellsci.com E: kcampbell@campbellsci.com T: + 1-435-227-9629

Campbell Scientific is the leading designer of hydromet solutions, trusted for over 40 years for measurement systems in weather, flood warning, and climate monitoring applications. Our rugged, low-power systems meet your needs for long-term, standalone monitoring and control.

Trust Campbell Scientific for the equipment, assembly, data-logger programming, communications, and field installation to give you the most accurate data. Every digital sensor and system is tested for use in the harshest environments, ready for decades of service. Campbell Scientific technical support is backed by a network of offices. Trust us to help you succeed.

202 Tamarack Rd, Thornton, New Hampshire, 03285-6867, United States www.comptus.com E: awhite@comptus.com T: +1-603-726-7500 Comptus is a full-range supplier of environmental sensing technologies to commercial and industrial markets around the world. Our product line includes ultrasonic wind speed and direction, rainfall, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, solar radiation, PM 2.5, PM10, H2S, SO2, NO, NO2, O3, CO, submersible and radar ultrasonic liquid level, EC and salinity, and dissolved oxygen sensing. We are particularly excited to debut our new line of meteorological and environmental products, integrated environmental air quality sensors and stations.

D Via Marconi, 5, Caselle di Selvazzano, Padova, 35030, Italy www.deltaohm.com E: c.casotto@deltaohm.com T: +39-049-897-7150 High quality, high standard, high reliability. Key words that have allowed Delta OHM to earn an outstanding international reputation over the past 40 years. Our R&D department, production, calibration laboratories, sales and after sales department are all under one roof.

We provide a wide range of meteorological measuring equipment according to the WMO recommendations. We are able to develop specific solution based on market requests giving the guarantee that all products and systems are field tested before being released to the market. Delta OHM is part of the German GHM GROUP.

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E 128 S. Industrial Blvd., Enterprise, Alabama, 36330, United States www.eecweathertech.com E: sales@eecweathertech.com T: +1-334-347-3478 (US) We’ve been defining an industry since 1971 – and we’re not done yet! EEC is your complete remote sensing provider, offering a full spectrum of weather radar and satellite solutions. With over 47 years of trusted service, and hundreds of customers that span the media, government, hydrology, defense & aviation industries, EEC is the recognised leader in the manufacturing and delivery of advanced remote sensing systems. EEC’s radar division offers 10 different variations of our legacy magnetron and klystron Defender weather radar systems. Additionally, EEC is also proud to launch our next-generation Pulse weather radar analysis software this year. EEC also offers our 100% solid-state line of radars; Endurance (C-Band) and Ranger (X-Band). And don’t forget about our ultralow-cost Maverick X-Band system! These radar systems, combined with EEC TeleSpace’s full spectrum of polar and geostationary orbiting weather satellite direct receive ground stations, allow our customers to be armed with the most advanced remote sensing systems in the world.

En-Sci Global Sales, 1325 West 121st Avenue, Westminster, CO 80234, United States www.en-sci.com E: info@en-sci.com T: 303-484-9774 En-Sci is the leader in upper atmospheric balloon borne measurement systems. En-Sci manufactures the ECC Ozonesonde and the CFH (Cryogenic Frostpoint Hygrometer). The En-Sci ECC Ozonesonde is the pre-eminent device used for upper atmospheric ozone measurement and the CFH is the preeminent device for upper atmospheric water vapor measurement. Both instruments have been the choice product for precision measurements of these gases by various government meteorological agencies throughout the globe for decades. Our instruments cover the triple juncture of what scientific

✛ E-M

measurement instrumentation is, i.e. Both the ECC Ozonesonde & the CFH are: 1) Cost effective launches 2) Repeatable Reliability 3) Accuracy in all field environments.

EWR Radar Systems 336 Leffingwell Avenue Saint Louis, MO 63122, United States T: +1-314-821-1022 EWR Radar Systems pioneered the use of solid-state transmitters in weather radar systems with the introduction of the revolutionary E700XD system in 2006. Today, EWR’s solid-state radars are field proven with over 85 systems installed around the world.

EWR offers a versatile line of COTS and custom dual-polarization weather radar systems, in X-band or C-band, that are ideal for filling gaps in existing radar networks. Their compact footprint, low infrastructure requirements and easy installation make the system versatile and cost-effective.

EWR is the #1 supplier of tactical weather radar systems to the US military

F Unit 4 Whitecroft Road, Meldreth, Herts SG8 6NE, United Kingdom www.fairmountweather.com E: paul@fairmountweather.com T: +44 (0) 1763 263415 Fairmount, renowned manufacturers of meteorological instruments for surface observations since 1988 have pioneered the development of mercury replacement instrumentation for the measurement of temperature, humidity and barometric pressure with the introduction of Intellisense®.

Supplied to 25 countries since its introduction in 2016, Intellisense® is now the de-facto choice to replace mercury based hygrometers, soil thermometers and barometers. Designed to meet the requirements of the WMO CIMO guide and the need for Member countries to phase-out mercury based instruments by 2020.

FT Technologies, Sunbury House, Brooklands Close, Sunbury on Thames TW16 7DX, United Kingdm

www.fttechnologies.com E: info@fttechnologies.com T: +44 (0)20 8943 0801 FT Technologies produces the world’s toughest wind sensors.

Supplying the wind power industry since 2002, we have developed a range of ultrasonic, maintenance-free wind sensors for extreme environments.

Sensors measure wind speed, wind direction and acoustic temperature. Operating at temperatures between -40°C and +85°C, they offer corrosion resistance, lightning resnistance and ingress protection to IP66/67. The FT205 lightweight wind sensor, has been specifically designed for use on drones.

I www.iblsoft.com E: sales@iblsoft.com T: +421-2-32662111 IBL Software Engineering (IBL), has become a synonym for mutual trust and reliable partnership over the last 40 years. Our passion is a high-quality, modern software and cutting-edge software innovations. We deliver turn-key projects tailored to achieve your goals, including integration, customization, training and world-reputable continuous support for our solutions. IBL delivers the world’s top weather software for meteorological professionals including national services, aviation, military, and commercial meteorological services. The continually growing number of our satisfied customers is the best proof.

L 90 Nemco Way, Ayer, MA, 01432, United States www.L3T.com/ESSCO E: info.essco@L3T.com T: +1-978-568-5150 Radome leader for over 50 years. Our acquisition by L3, a Fortune 250 company, provided ESSCO with the financial stability to fund our continued growth and product development and access to immense technical expertise and resources. This association has allowed us to continue to build on our philosophy of providing the best performing radomes in the world. Our commitment to excellence is what has separated ESSCO

✛ Directory

from its competition for over half a century and will continue to be our guiding principal as we move to the future.

Raiffeisenstrasse 10, Neuss, 41470, Germany www.selex-es.de E: info@selex-es-gmbh.com T: +49 21377820 LEONARDO Germany GmbH occupies a worldwide leading position in the design, manufacture, sales and service of weather radar systems, sensors and system solutions for meteorology, hydrology and aviation. With its METEOR product line, featuring stateof-the-art S-, C- and X-Band weather radar technology, LEONARDO Germany GmbH spearheads the weather radar industry, serving a wide base of international customers including aviation authorities, national weather services, military services, hydrologic0al institutions and research agencies. The company focuses on providing customized system and turnkey solutions that reflect a deep concern for the individual customer.

M Seminarstrasse 55/57, Wettingen, AG, 5403, Switzerland www.mbw.ch E: patrick.horn@mbw.ch T: +41 56 437 2830 MBW Calibration is recognised internationally as a developer and supplier of high quality chilled mirror hygrometers used in a variety of humidity calibration, measurement and gas sensing applications. Most notably, these hygrometers provide the traceability for many laboratories such as humidity sensor manufacturers and for a variety of National Metrology Institutes. MBW dew point mirrors continue to be chosen

by NMIs as transfer standards for their inter-laboratory comparisons both regionally and internationally.

Greifengasse 38, 4. OG, Basel, BS, 4058, Switzerland www.meteoblue.com E: info@meteoblue.com T: +41 615353301 meteoblue is a Swiss specialist weather company producing, managing and supplying high

✛ Directory

precision weather data for the entire world, based on observation data, high-resolution Numerical Weather Models and artificial intelligence. meteoblue offers unique seamless hourly weather data for any place on Earth from 1984 until 14 days ahead, as well as seasonal forecasts and climate statistics, all available as text, data, images, maps and movies, and shows the highest published accuracy results on https://content.meteoblue. com/content/view/full/3519. meteoblue offers innovative weather services, including websites, apps, emails, digital signage and API to customers in more than 50 countries.

N Albert-Roßhaupter-Str. 43, 81369 München, Germany www.nowcast.de E: info@nowcast.de T: +49 89 5529 713 70 In 1988, nowcast invented the high-precision lightning detection network LINET. Today, nowcast is operating LINET globally, providing homogeneous data to national weather services, flight control, airports, energy sector, insurers, and all kinds of meteorological companies. Providing unparalleled precision, LINET determines strike impact points accurately to within 75 meters while detecting weak strokes from 2 kA upwards. With its patented 3D locating algorithm, allowing for the determination of the altitude of cloud strokes, LINET identifies severity, characteristics, and evolution of thunderstorms. As a new feature, ‘rTNT’ tracks and nowcasts the entire lightning activity in real-time providing for fastest possible thunderstorm warning.

O Ludwigstr.16, Kempten, 87437, Germany www.otthydromet.com, E: euinfo@otthydromet.com T: +49 831 5617-0 OTT HydroMet provides valuable insights for experts in water and weather applications to help protect lives, the environment and infrastructure.

We go beyond simply providing solutions by partnering with our customers in designing

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effective answers to the challenges they encounter in their vital role of monitoring the world’s water and surface weather. Proudly formed from 7 brands (OTT, Hydrolab, ADCON, Sutron, Lufft, Kipp & Zonen and Meteostar), OTT HydroMet offers the combined strength and expertise of leaders in the water quality, quantity, telemetry and meteorology fields and over 500 years of experience in environmental monitoring.

P Makers of the World Climate Service 200 Innovation Blvd, Suite 229, State College, PA 16803, United States www.worldclimateservice.com E: jan.dutton@prescientweather.com T: +1-434-906-3296 Prescient Weather develops valuable climate information applications including CropProphet, a crop yield forecast system, ClimBiz, a climate projection information system, and the World Climate Service, a subseasonal and seasonal tool set designed to enable meteorologists to improve their long lead forecasting processes using the best and latest meteorological and climate science available.

R Spartis 32, & Filikis Eterias, Athens, Metamorfosi, GR-14452, Greece www.raymetrics.com E: kefstathiou@raymetrics.com T: +30 210 6655860 Raymetrics is a technology driven, globally renowned atmospheric LiDAR manufacturer. Raymetrics innovative products are offered to stable and diverse customer base including renowned research and educational institutions, airports, meteorological services. Raymetrics uses the innovative LIDAR technology to remotely sense the atmosphere. The instruments integrate state-ofthe-art technology developed in research laboratories in Europe with Raymetrics experience in building robust, standalone systems, 3D scanning or vertical mode systems, able to operate 24/7 even in hard environmental conditions.

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Straßenhäuser 27 6842 Koblach, Austria www.sommer.de/en E: office@sommer.at T:+43 (0) 5523 55 989 – 0 SOMMER is an Austrian company focusing on environmental measuring for the past 30 years. For 20 years, SOMMER has been working extensively on a non-contact radar based discharge measurement systems. With these non-contact radars SOMMER is enabling their customers to measure discharge and monitor discharge from lean season up to extreme flood conditions. The application range for the non-contact radars is extremely wide, from permanent installations to measurement campaigns and completely mobile systems.

Sparv Embedded

Ågatan 39, 582 22 Linköping, Sweden www.sparvembedded.com www.windsond.com E: info@sparvembedded.com T: +46 (0)707 312608 Sparv Embedded develops and produces sensor equipment for data collection in the lower parts of the atmosphere. Our focus is on ease of use, portability and flexibility. Windsond is the lightest radiosonde system on the market. The sondes can be reused for an unprecedented low cost per sounding. The modular sensor system Sparvio makes it easy for customers to do measurements from UAVs and other moving platforms.

atmospheric sciences research institution, and the UCAR Community Programs (UCP) Office, which provides a variety of support and training services to the academic, governmental, and private industry communities.

V Vanha Nurmijärventie 21, Vantaa, 01670, Finland www.vaisala.com E: aleksis.kajava@vaisala.com T: +358 9 89491 Vaisala is a global leader in environmental and industrial measurement. Building on more than 80 years of experience, Vaisala contributes to a better quality of life by providing a comprehensive range of innovative observation and measurement products and services for chosen weather-related markets.

W The Weather Company, 400 Minuteman Road, Andover, MA 01810, United States www.ibm.com/weather E: weather@us.ibm.com T: +1-978-983-6300 As one of the world’s largest enterprises, The Weather Company, an IBM Business, helps companies and consumers make more informed decisions by providing accurate, personalised and actionable insights into weather’s potential impact on business.

U 3090 Center Green Drive, Boulder, Colorado, 80301, United States www.ucar.edu E: pkucera@ucar.edu T: +1(303) 497-1000 The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) is a non-profit consortium of over 115 North American universities involved in Earth system science research, education, and policy programmes. UCAR operates and manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), an

919 North Market Street, #950, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, United States www.wxriskglobal.com, E: rleonardi@wxriskglobal.com T: +1 781-775-9107 Wx Risk Global is a global weather risk solutions company that provides mitigation products and services to individuals, organisations, cities, and nations that have the greatest potential of falling victim to climate-related disasters. Our company also educates organisations about the advantages of using weather and natural peril risk mitigation products for financial preparedness as well as alternative relief and recovery funding.

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Comptus is a full range supplier of environmental sensing technologies to commercial and industrial markets around the world. Our product line includes ultrasonic wind speed and direction, rainfall, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, solar radiation, PM 2.5, PM10, H2S, SO2, NO, NO2, O3, CO, submersible and radar ultrasonic liquid level, EC and salinity, and dissolved oxygen sensing. Visit our website, or contact us at the email below for more detailed product information.

202 Tamarack Rd. Thornton, NH 03285 USA +1 (603) 726-7500 awhite@comptus.com ISO 9001:2015