Design and Implementation of Radar Networks in Some Other Countries with Support of Finnish Meteorological Institute

Introduktion

Economic losses from disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones and flooding are now reaching an average of US$250 billion to US$300 billion each year. Between 1980 and 2012, 42 million life years were lost in internationally reported disasters each year. (UNISDR 2015 Global Assessment Report). Governments can reduce this risk by assessing and reducing vulnerability to existing weather and climate hazards, incorporating disaster risk reduction into national adaptation and development plans, and by strengthening the resilience and adaptive capacity of the communities most at-risk. In order, improve especially very short-term weather forecasting for hazardous phenomena like heavy rain and snowfall, hail, in-cloud icing, strong winds and turbulence, to improve hydrological forecasting and warnings of flash floods, warnings to agriculture, and to improve the aviation safety necessary in the near future to create a networks of weather radars in as much as possible countries. The weather radar observing system include to the Global Observing System (GOS) which contribute observations of meteorological parameters in support of the World Weather Watch (WWW) Programme. (World Meteorological Organization). Investment in the development of Hydro-meteorological capacity plays a key role in the reduction of weather related losses. Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) is committed to help other countries, especially the developing world, in the development of their meteorological services. For decades, the FMI has addressed this issue through international and national development cooperation projects. Annually about 35 FMI’s experts are taking part in short-term missions on all inhabited continents of the world to either provide training or assist in development tasks. FMI took and take part in Radar Networks development projects in some countries such as Lithuania, Moldova, Georgia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ecuador, Colombia, Jamaica, Bermuda, Vietnam, Nepal, Myanmar...

Main objectives of these projects

• Improved capacity of NHMS to establish a weather radar network as part of its real-time observation and nowcasting system;
• Providing guidance in assessing the suitability of the existing structures to accommodate the radar with ancillary systems and facilities and advice on changes needed to existing structures;
• Design and recommendations of new modernized systems;
• Support to weather radar network planning;
• Providing technical expertise during the tender process for the procurement of the radar;
• Determination the appropriate training needs for maintaining the functionality of the radar;
• Providing technical supervisory services for the installation of the radar;
• Preparation a transition plan (inclusive of implementation schedule) for the decommissioning of the existing radar and the to put into operation of the new one;
• Providing any other information that is necessary for the successful procurement, installation, use, and maintenance of the radar;
• Creating basic and specialized weather radar products, based on identified stakeholder and customer needs;
• Capacity building and training in radar operation, including data interpretation;
• Basic training on weather radars;
• Training on operation and maintenance of radars;
• Training and capacity building on the fundamentals of radar meteorology concentrating on the features of the dual polarization radar and usage of the radar products for weather surveillance and hazard weather forecasting, nowcasting and warnings.
• Support to weather radar composite creating.

Summary

The Capacity building projects is needed to help the NHMSs improve capacity in risk analysis of natural hazards and early warning and severe weather forecasting services. The Weather Radar Network design depends on the aimed uses of the radar data. Typical uses of radar data are nowcasting, hydrology and aviation. A network is usually built in a number of steps, because the investment cost of radars is high. Therefore, it is necessary to define the general structure of the network from the very beginning to the full extent. Availability of a reliable electrical power connection is a prerequisite for reliable radar operations. Modern radars are remotely operated and produce considerable quantities of data. A reliable communication method is needed for data transfer from radar site to the operating center, remote monitoring of the radar hardware, software and physical environment, remote control of the operation and change of the settings and the operation. Siting a radar is a task in which many different points need to be taken into account, which have effect on the decision.

In this paper, I will describe the results of these projects, successes, challenges and opportunities.