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The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology VLMG-5 Barbados CIMH Report Kathy-Ann Caesar Meteorologist
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CIMH Situated in Husbands, immediately north of Queen’s College, the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) For 43 plus years has been the primary training and education facility for meteorological personnel in the Caribbean;. CIMH has resigned itself to not only training but also in the involvement in collative projects that would benefit the local and regional community.
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Mission Statement The role and mission of the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology is to assist in improving and developing the Meteorological and Hydrological Services as well as providing the awareness of the benefits of Meteorology and Hydrology for the economic well-being of the CIMH member states. This is achieved through training, research, investigations and the provision of related specialised services and advice.
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CIMH History The Caribbean Meteorological Institute (CMI) - established on the 23 rd August 1967 under special funding from UNDP and WMO. The Caribbean Operational Hydrology Institute (COHI) - established in 1982 and located at CMI. ▫The two Institutes were amalgamated in 1985 to form the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH). Sixteen Commonwealth Caribbean Governments comprise the Caribbean Meteorological Organisation (CMO) are responsible for the operation of CIMH. The Institute - designated a Regional Meteorological Training Centre by WMO in 1978, ▫Located on a 15 acre site at Husbands, a former sugar plantation in the parish of St. James, Barbados on the western side of the island. In 1973 the CMI became affiliated to the University of the West Indies when the University introduced meteorology as one of its B. Sc. degree options in the then Faculty of Natural Sciences.
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Member Countries The sixteen member countries participating in the CMO arecountries Anguilla, Antigua* and Barbuda, Cayman Islands*, Dominica, Guyana*, Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago*, Barbados*, Belize*, British Virgin Islands, Grenada*, Jamaica*, St. Lucia*, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Turks and Caicos Islands * National Forecast and Warning Offices
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The primary functions of the Institute are to: Provide facilities for the training of various categories of meteorological and hydrological personneltraining Operate as a centre of research in meteorology and hydrology and associated sciencesresearch Operate as contractors and consultants on various meteorological and hydrological projectscontractors and consultants Maintain a service for the upkeep, repair, and calibration of meteorological instruments Provide advice to participating governments on meteorological and hydrological matters Collect, analyse, and publish meteorological and hydrological data Collect, analyse, and publish
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Caribbean Weather Discussion Regional weather discussion – started in 2003 after the Satellite Training Seminar in Barbados; Under the guidance of Horace and Selvin Burton in collaboration with CIRA and UCAR the discussions promoted regional satellite discussions and the use of virtual labs programs. The VisitView Focus Group discussion has since grown to include not only the English speaking Caribbean territories, but much of Latin America as well. In 2008 the Caribbean Weekly Weather discussion was started to encourage regional discussion and collaboration in the event of a major Hurricane system across the region Special topics: ▫Screaming Eagle ▫Tropical cyclone briefing ▫Regional weather briefing
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Vlab events Visitview Focal Group Monthly Weather Discussion across Latin America and the Caribbean; Lead by Tony Mosel (UCAR/COMET); Bernadette Connell (CIRA) and Mike Davison (NCEP); Satellite data interpretations Special Weather events Caribbean Weather Discussion Monthly weather briefings for Caribbean; Weather briefings and system discussion Teaching and Continuous Professional Development Special events ▫Onset of tropical storms ▫Introduction of new products; e.g. TWP, RTFS TAOS model
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Meteorology RAMSDIS The RAMM Advanced Meteorological Satellite Demonstration and Interpretation System (RAMSDIS) is a PC-based unit developed by the Regional And Mesoscale Meteorological (RAMM) team at CIRA.RAMSDIS Currently system being upgraded to Lunix, using the Redhat software; The CIRA team is aiding the process One of the major projects arising from the CIRA/CIMH collaboration is a Cloud Climatology over the Eastern Caribbean A future proposal is for the RAMSDIS at CIMH be a regional source for more High resolution satellite data over the area.
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MM5 and WRF Mesoscale NWP Use of satellite data in initializing the MM5 Mesoscale NWP Products
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Screaming Eagle
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March 2009 Shearline Shearlines are not unusual during the dry season March 08 th the passage of a strong shearline dropped temperature to 23 C The shearline tracked as far south as Guyana (06 N)
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Dry season of 2010 Following a less active rainy season, the Caribbean (mainly eastern Caribbean) suffered a severe drought (30 year record low rainfall October through March). Regional discussion focused on the extent of the dry season and the reasons behind it. ▫El Nino ▫Abnormal southerly position of the Sub –tropical high.
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Soufriere Volcanic Eruption Afternoon February 11 th 2010. Large unexpected ‘cloud’ appeared over north eastern Caribbean Island The Impressive plume shutdown flights across the Lesser Antilles The discussion group got a RGB demonstration for Bernie Connell of CIRA
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An Update on the Operational Implementation of Blended Total Precipitable Water (TPW) Products Sheldon Kusselson NOAA/NESDIS Co-authors Dr. Stanley Q. Kidder, John Forsythe, Dr. Andrew Jones Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere/Colorado State University Limin Zhao NOAA/NESDIS 23 rd Conference on Hydrology 89 th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society 14 January 2009 / Phoenix, Arizona ftp://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/Presentations/Conferences/AMS2009.ppt ftp://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/Publications/23Hydro_Jan_2009_extended_abstract.pdf ftp://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/Presentations/Conferences/AMS2009.ppt ftp://satepsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/Publications/23Hydro_Jan_2009_extended_abstract.pdf 50 100 150 > 200 % no data 6 12 25 38 50 62 mm
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DUST WEEK You are invited to attend- Students and staff viewed 4 of the 7 Sessions 1, 3, 5 and 7. The Presentations were viewed in classroom setting. The most popular session was session 5 – Dust Detection. Especially in light of the increase number of Sahara Dust Event and the recent volcanic activity in Montserrat and Iceland.
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Problems Lack of participation – ▫Over the last 6 six months participation has dropped significantly ▫I have countered this by adding students to the list Insufficient funds. ▫The Institute is funded by the supporting governments and with some of these facing harsh economic times the required funding is hardly ever received. The Institute despite the difficulties intends to expand its training methods by including computer aided learning materials in a meaningful way. ▫Efforts are being made to increase more consulting activities; Need to increase bandwidth Lack of adequate finances also impinges on the ability to hire adequate staff.
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The Future Tropical storm watch and focus on Haiti Encourage students to be the driving force of the discussions Support Vlab Events Use of the discussion to build Continuing Professional Development program Use of the discussion format to aid Disaster Preparedness efforts
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