WIS 2.0 Malawi Automatic Weather Stations data exchange

Owned by Enrico Fucile
Last updated: Jun 03, 2022 by Xiaoxia Chen
4 min read

Background

WMO Global Data Processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS) Centers provide open and free forecast data. However, their forecast quality depends on the quantity and quality of the data sent to them using the WMO Information System (WIS).

Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS) in Malawi is managing 23 manned weather stations providing 2 or 4 observations per day. In February 2021, the data sent to GDPFS Centers through WIS were not regular and not available for many stations that appeared as black dots in the following map (Fig.1).

Fig.1 2021/02

 

 

 

Malawi DCCMS has reviewed some GTS data transmission issues during March with the WMO Secretariat and GISC Pretoria support. Consequently, there is now an increase in the number of observations received by GDPFS Centers, as shown in Fig.2.

The data exchanged on GTS after the corrections are still not enough to satisfy the requirements of GDPFS. Moreover, the pressure data are missing in almost all the stations due to the absence of a functioning barometer.

Malawi DCCMS also manages 44 Campbell Scientific Automatic Weather Stations (AWS), providing data through a GSM connection and internet. These are the issues related to the AWS data:

  • data are received on a PC in Blantyre in DCCMS headquarters, which constitute a single point of failure and is not sufficient to guarantee the required continuity and resilience of the transmission

  • 14 stations are affected by transmission problems because their SIM card has been disabled or because the GSM signal is too weak

  • AWS data are used only locally and not exchanged internationally via GTS

  • Campbell Scientific software cannot produce BUFR. The WIGOS station identifier (WSI) cannot be encoded in SYNOP, and BUFR is required.

WIS 2.0 demonstrator project

WIS 2.0 aims to leverage new technologies, open standard, web, and cloud-based services to provide simple, timely, and seamless sharing of trusted weather, water, and climate data. Several demonstrator projects have been established to illustrate, evolve, validate and refine the concepts, solutions, and implementation approach of WIS 2.0. The demonstrator projects will also show some of the critical benefits WIS 2.0 will bring to the WMO community. In the case of the transmission of observations, a demonstrator project will help to show how the required resilience and timeliness of the data transmission can be delivered using the technologies supported by WIS 2.0.

Objectives

The objectives of the WIS 2.0 demonstrator project on the international exchange of observational data in Malawi are:

  1. Continuous and reliable provision of hourly real-time data from 44 stations to Global NWP Centers in BUFR format through GTS and WIS 2.0.

  2. Optimization of the acquisition system for cloud services for sustainability purposes.

Partners

  • Malawi Department for Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS)

  • Campbell Scientific

  • Amazon

  • WMO Secretariat as the facilitator

Approach

The project will use cloud services to build a resilient and scalable system able to

  • acquire the data from the observing stations

  • provide final users access to the data according to WIS 2.0 technical specifications.

Access to the data will be unrestricted for WMO GDPFS Centers.

Depending on the support provided by Campbell Scientific, the project will aim in one year to optimize the acquisition software for efficiency and cost-effectiveness on cloud services.

The project will entail a training phase for Malawi DCCMS personnel to build skills for administering the system in the cloud environment.

Estimated costs

The following estimated cost for the project that is planned to run for one year will be met by the WMO Secretariat through extra-budgetary funding.

  • Amazon services one year around $10K (first year provided for free by Amazon)

  • Implementation of Campbell Sci. software on Amazon cloud service provided at no cost by Campbell Sci.

  • Implementation of BUFR production provided by Campbell Sci. at no cost.

  • Cost of WIS2 type transmission to be determined (rough estimate $5000/year) to replace GTS in the longer term.

  • Cost of improving GSM reception around $6000

  • Training for IT staff in Malawi to be provided by Amazon (no cost)

For the long-term running costs, a funding solution will be considered.

Benefits

The real-time observations will be assimilated by the Global NWP systems providing more accurate forecasts.

Malawi DCCMS will benefit from a reliable and continuous stream of observations from their AWSs for nowcasting and NWP purposes.

The project will serve as a blueprint for similar projects in Africa and other regions to resolve the lack of observations for Global NWP and other real-time uses. The acquisition systems based on cloud services will be potentially used for different countries, making the acquisition, and sharing of data from hundreds of stations more sustainable and resilient.

Project Lead

Enrico Fucile (WMO Secretariat)