The Caribbean Meteorological Organization (CMO) Weather Radar Network (CWRN), which was deployed in 2009, currently comprises Doppler radars located in Barbados, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica. The network is bolstered by additional weather radars from pre-existing and new weather radars across the region, including Tobago, Saint Lucia, Sint Maarten/St. Martin, Curacao, the Bahamas, and Martinique.
The CWRN a critical infrastructure and a key component of the region’s early warning system. The network contributes to the following four (4) frameworks underpinning monitoring and forecasting severe weather:
- CMO’s regional arrangements for tropical cyclone watches and warnings, aerodrome forecasts, and other meteorological forecasts and warning services among its Member States;
- WMO RA IV Hurricane Committee in support of the WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme;
- WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS) and WMO Weather Radar Database in support of Early Warnings for All, where radar composites are a regional priority; and
- World Weather Watch Programme.
The radars are quite expensive to operate. The National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) operating radars face many challenges, including resources for operation and maintenance of the radars, radar data archiving, software to support radar calibration, data quality management, provision of training on radar maintenance, instrument resources, and human resources. Over the last decade, NMHSs recognized the importance of technical cooperation and discussions of radar operations and maintenance experiences, capacity, knowledge, and best practices so that individual countries and the region could optimize the life-cycle and full use of its weather radars.
As a result, the CMO Headquarters Unit formally established the CMO Operational Radar Group (CORG) in 2020, following the approval of the Caribbean Meteorological Council at its 59th Session in 2019. The CORG is a mechanism for collaboration and the exchange of knowledge and expertise on radar maintenance matters. The CORG incorporates, by invitation, personnel from Caribbean NMHSs engaged in maintaining and operating Doppler weather radars. The CORG, which is led by two co-chairs, meets once every quarter and has the responsibility to develop mechanisms for sharing operational weather radar maintenance experiences and strategies, provide advice and recommendations to the CMO and NMHSs on methods to improve the use of radar, standardize operational practices, and serve as a clearinghouse for operational weather radar data information. The CORG has established a platform for knowledge exchange, sharing and recording lessons learned, solutions, presentations and guidance documents. The platform is managed by CMO Headquarters.
The CORG began functioning in June 2022, after its planned activities were curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The group first focused on a review of radar maintenance, including radar status, maintenance and radar data transmission issues, raw radar data archiving and retrieval, access to software for teaching and training on dual polarization.
Other discussions were on policy and strategy for radar data archiving and back-up arrangements, sourcing of spare parts, calibration of testing instruments, radar IT security, radar plant security, methods to suppress voltage surges at the radar site, establishing common procedures for calibration of radars-including inter-calibration and sharing common tools, and regional coordination activities-including training and capacity development and the regional base reflectivity composite generated by the Barbados Meteorological Service.
Each meeting featured at least one presentation, including lessons learned from the upgrade of the Barbados radar, installing a new X-band radar in Saint Lucia, radar system maintenance, and best practices for archiving radar data and generating images from raw radar data files. The CORG, in partnership with Leonardo Germany, exposed regional radar experts to tools for operational radar monitoring, including calibration and monitoring applications (Ravis and Snip) that deal with validation in terms of system integrity and data extraction and inter-comparison, respectively, along with radar data-derived key figures.
The CORG is fulfilling its mandate by leading knowledge exchange on weather radar maintenance and operational issues in the region. Hence the growing of radar expertise to optimize and extend the service life of the radars on the CWRN to meet the evolving needs of countries and the region. The high priority and importance given to the CORG by its members is emphasized by their decision to hold quarterly discussions on all major radar-related issues, with additional meetings when necessary. This approach allows the CORG with to create and strengthen robust regional partnerships within the radar community and significantly contribute to the refinement of the CWRN operations strategy. Based on this approach, it can be argued that the CORG has laid a foundation for strong multilateral collaborations, which allows for a continuous feedback loop of distilling operational and maintenance challenges, extracting solutions and lessons learned, and using solutions and lessons learned to improve operations and maintenance activities.
The CORG symbolizes the strong cooperation among CMO Member States and other neighbouring Caribbean States. It has focused its activities and tasks on directly sharing and exchanging knowledge, experience, capacity development, and best practices on operational and radar maintenance techniques across the region. It is key to the sustainability of the CMO Weather Radar Network. Among the next steps is developing an operational plan of the CORG to advance its work program.
The CORG can serve as a model for capacity development in radar operations and regional coordination for other regions. It has proven to be a conduit for enhancing national and international cooperation for better radar operations management that can lead to better early warning systems and support for DRR, including the clarion call for "Early Warnings for All" in five years
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