WMO/TECO Functional Testing of Surface Weather Instruments and Systems - Rodica Nitu Meteorological Service of Canada

WMO/TECO Summary  Principles  Test facilities  Current projects

WMO/TECO Quality Meteorological Data  performance of measurement of the instruments (accuracy, resolution, response time, etc);  variability of measurement within a network;  changes in the data sets when using sensors with different operating principles to measure the same weather element;  how well a sensor operates in the specific environmental and climatological conditions, across the network?

WMO/TECO Functional testing  The testing in the outdoor, natural environment where instruments are expected to operate over a wide variety of meteorological conditions and climatic regimes. (WMO, Guide#8)  Goals: Data quality System reliability

WMO/TECO Challenges  Canadian territory: vast size;  Canadian climate: variable and diverse;  Meteorological equipment – rarely approaches a commodity definition.

WMO/TECO Challenges  Monitoring programs are major capital expenditures and the procurement decisions require sound information.  Purchases take place within the Government of Canada procurement system which is highly structured, process-bound.

WMO/TECO Canadian Weather Monitoring Networks In Canada the meteorological sensors and systems operate in a set of observing networks organized according to the primary purpose of the data collected:  Public weather,  Aviation,  Reference climate,  Marine,  Upper air.

WMO/TECO Reference Climate Network

WMO/TECO Canadian Marine Weather Network

WMO/TECO Testing Program Fulfills two critical functions:  determining the best mix of instruments and methods of observation that will meet data quality needs with optimal cost/performance ratios.  developing the knowledge base needed to support an effective life cycle management program – identifying and managing potential risks.

WMO/TECO MSC Test Sites  St. John’s, Newfoundland: heavy precipitation, high wind speeds, fog, and freezing rain.  Iqaluit, Nunavut: arctic conditions such as extreme cold, ice crystals.  Egbert, Ontario: continental climate regime.  Wiarton, Ontario: heavy snowfall conditions.  Bratt’s Lake, Saskatchewan: continental climate.  Stony Plain, Alberta: operational testing of upper air systems and radiosondes.  Burlington, Ontario: testing marine weather instruments

WMO/TECO

WMO/TECO St. John’s Newfoundland  Site of the 1994 WMo intercomparisons of present weather sensors.  very active weather;  ideal conditions for testing the performance and the performance limits of any meteorological instrument;  fog;  freezing rainstorms.

WMO/TECO After the freezing rainstorm… St. John’s, February 2005

WMO/TECO

WMO/TECO Iqaluit, Nunavut  Established in 2004  South-eastern arctic, on Baffin Island.  Strong arctic storms with harsh temperatures, strong winds, heavy precipitation, blowing snow, low visibility, freezing rain.  Has potential to become a base for major research projects.  : Storm Studies in the Arctic project.

WMO/TECO Iqaluit 2004

WMO/TECO Current Projects  reference climate and surface weather networks: wind, pressure, temperature, and humidity sensors;  marine weather network: wind and pressure sensors;  evaluation of automated systems for Nav Canada and Department of Defense.  development of an algorithm for deriving snowfall amount data from snow depth measurements.

WMO/TECO Summary Meteorological Service of Canada functional testing program:  A quality management system:  Data quality  System reliability  Pragmatic approach to managing users’ expectations.

WMO/TECO Questions?