AW11 Provides Olympic Weather Reporting

Contents

3 President’s Column 25 AW11 Provides Olympic Weather Reporting 4 New Calibration Procedure Optimizes RS90 Radiosonde 25 Sustainable Development Requires Performance Greater Understanding of Global Climate Systems 7 CAL4 Ensures Accurate Radiosonde Calibration 27 The 78th AMS Meeting: To maintain its high safety standards, Volvo Maturing Our Predictive Capability has extensive facilities for testing new models. 8 Promising Pilot Test Results of the Vaisala’s weather monitoring equipment New RS90 Radiosonde in Vienna 29 Vaisala’s Global ICE Activities informs test drivers about the ambient weather conditions. 11 New AUTOSONDE Installations in 30 New Predictive Road Condition Australia Monitoring for Flanders 12 JMA Upgrades Three ASAP 32 Finland’s Traffic Management Centre Sounding Systems 34 Ice Warning System Improves Traffic 13 MAWS – Automatic Weather Safety in Moscow Stations 36 Latvia Expands Its Road Weather 15 Important Step Towards Open Information System Communication 37 Ice and Fog Warning Systems in 16 Ambitious Upgrading Project in Australia Hungary 38 New Ice Prediction System for the Three new AUTOSONDEs were installed 20 Volvo’s Proving Ground: Birmingham Airport in Australia last year; one of them is situated Safety on the Tracks in the desert-like Cobar region. 40 The World’s Southernmost IceCast 22 MILOS 500 Data Collection System Installation Supports Marine Research 43 New ICE Customers Using information 23 A Vital Tool for Fire and Rescue 43 Key Personnel in the ICE Group provided by Vaisala’s Operations IceCast ice prediction system and extensive Thermal Mapping, the Birmingham Airport takes preven- tive action to avoid ice formation on critical runway surfaces. Vaisala in Brief

Cover photo: Design and Artwork: Lehtikuva/Sipa Image Non-Stop Studiot Oy Editor-in-Chief: Editors: Marit Finne Axioma Oy Publisher: Printed in Finland by Vaisala Oyj, P.O. Box 26 Sävypaino, Finland FI-00421 Helsinki, – We develop, manufacture and market – We focus on market segments where we FINLAND products and services for environmental can be world leaders, as the preferred sup- Phone (int.): and similar industrial measurements. plier. We pay high attention on customer (+358 9) 894 91 – Purpose of those measurements is to pro- satisfaction. Our main market quality disci- Telefax: vide basis for better quality of life, cost sav- pline is Product Leadership. Competitive (+358 9) 894 9227 ings, protection of environment, improved advantage is enhanced by economies of safety and performance. scale and scope. Internet: http://www.vaisala.com ISSN 1238-2388

2 147/19 9 8 ■ ■ ■ President’s Column ■ ■ ■

Setting New Standards

hen people develop sensors in the RS90 radiosonde are now used in many locations something new – are new. The accuracy of tem- in both the Northern and either procedures or perature measurements has Southern hemispheres. The im- W products – there are been improved significantly, plementation of these systems usually three common themes: humidity measurements revive has created new models for simplification, automation and quickly after exposure to icy winter maintenance. Wherever integration. The same is true conditions, and the pressure they are used, these systems set for weather observations. Vai- sensor maintains its accurate a new standard for operations. sala has always looked boldly calibration even in harsh envi- A new standard is also need- to the future, aiming to create ronments. To optimize the per- ed for the quality of the global new products that offer added formance of these sensors and weather observation network. value to our customers. Instead achieve the greatest benefit To improve our understanding of simply comparing one prod- from them, we have integrated of climate variation and uct to another, we look at mar- completely new calibration changes, we have to build even ket needs from a wider perspec- equipment in our radiosonde better models of climate behav- tive. production. This was a major ior. This requires input from Today, full automation of challenge because we set much research, and correspondingly, upper air observations is a fact higher demands than those for better weather observations in of life. As the many operative traditional weather chambers. terms of geographical coverage, AUTOSONDE systems have Mini Automatic Weather time and measurement param- proved, our concept is reliable Stations (MAWS) represent a eters. The financial input need- and efficient. This technology new way of thinking about ed for continuous develop- has set a new standard for our weather station structure. The ment must be impressed on the vision of the observation net- compact design and easy con- national authorities, who should work in the next millennium. figuration of the MAWS are also be involved in the devel- Radiosonde product genera- brand new. Although most opment of the new standard. tions seldom change. New prod- applications are in the opera- ucts must represent significant tive weather services field, the advances before it is worth- MAWS will no doubt find while to verify their perfor- users in new applications re- mance. After years of research quiring real-time weather meas- and development work, we are urements. now launching a new-genera- Road and airport runway sys- Pekka Ketonen tion RS90 radiosonde. All the tems for ice and fog warning President and CEO

147/19 9 8 3 The structure of the CAL4 calibration machine.

New Calibration Procedure Optimizes RS90 Radiosonde Performance

When development of the new-generation RS90 The CAL4 has four pressure chambers with constant tempera- radiosonde began, the decision was made to ture and variable air pressure. optimize the calibration process and equipment The nominal temperatures are used with it. The goal was to take full advantage +60, +25, -33, and -72 °C. The of the advanced features of the entirely new pres- RS90 pressure sensors are calibrated at nominal pressure lev- sure, temperature and humidity sensor of the els of 1080, 900, 800, 600, 400, new radiosonde. The following article describes 200, 100, 50, 20 and 2 hPa. Vaisala’s state-of-the-art calibration process for A fifth order polynomial pres- radiosonde sensors. It also discusses the factors sure calibration curve is fitted to Ari Paukkunen, Ph. Lic. (Phys.) ten pressure calibration points at Project Manager affecting the uncertainty of radiosonde measure- +25 °C. The temperature de- Upper Air Division ments. All the information included is based on pendence is calculated as the Vaisala Helsinki, Finland the texts cited in the references. deviation from the +25 °C calibration. The CAL4 has seven chambers dedicated to temperature calibration. The RS90 temperature sensors are calibrated at aisala’s new CAL4 • Individual calibration of temperature levels of -90, -72, radiosonde calibra- each sensor with sensor -52, -33, -6, +25, and +60 °C. tion equipment was electronics The fifth order polynomial is fit- V specifically designed • Accurate and unbiased ted to the seven temperature cali- for the RS90 radiosonde. The mathematical modeling of bration points. The RS90 hu- result is a state-of-the-art calibra- the sensors midity sensors are calibrated at a ° tion system that meets the high- • Stable and well character- temperature of +25 C in four est performance standards, ized calibration chambers chambers at nominal humidities offering high accuracy with low of 0, 30, 60 and 90% RH. The short-term and long-term uncer- • Internationally traceable second order polynomial is fit- low uncertainty working tainties. In the development references and instruments ted through these four measure- process, the following requirement points. The temperature ments for a good industrial cali- • Computer aided test (CAT) dependence correction is done bration system were carefully instrument set-up and checked in a chamber with a considered: • High level of automation nominal temperature of -33 °C.

4 147/19 9 8 1 Belongs organizationally to the Technical Research Centre of Finland. 2 Belongs organizationally to the Center for Metrology and Accreditation.

points in the range of ±3 °C The measurement uncertain- The measurement uncertain- about the chamber nominal tem- ties of absolute pressure (k = 2) ty and dewpoint range covered perature. The thermistors are cali- and the ranges covered with with these instruments is as fol- brated at MSL at 6 month in- these instruments are as follows: lows: tervals. A set of dewpoint meters is • ±2% of reading from 0.1 to • 0.24 °C from -74 to +20 °C used as a working reference for 20 Pa, with MKS SRG-2 with GE 1311-DR/SR sen- humidity. The dewpoint meters Spinning Rotor Gage, sor are calibrated at MSL at 12 ° ° month intervals. The calibration • 0.5% of reading from 20 to • 0.22 C from 0 to +80 C of reference thermistors is de- 50 hPa, with MKS-Baratron with GE DR-2 sensor. scribed above. The reference Absolute Pressure Temperature dependence was value – expressed as relative hu- Transducer, Short-term and long-term uncertainty of CAL4 tested to be unlinear as a func- midity (over water) – is calculat- • (0.005% of reading + 0.08 tion of temperature accurately ed using the reference dewpoint Pa) from 50 hPa to 130 kPa, and accurately enough linear as a reading and the chamber tem- with Ruska-2465 Pressure The calculation of the shor␴t- function of humidity. perature by using Wexler and Balance. term uncertainty of CAL4 ( r) Hyland formulations for satura- is based on the following esti- References for tion vapour pressures (ref. 5 and The primary standards for tem- mations: radiosonde calibration 6). The long-term stability of the perature are the Hart 1575 Ther- humidity references is measured mometer and Hart 5681 Stand- • Uncertainty of the primary The quality of CAL4 calibra- by using the measured equiva- ard Platinum Resistance Ther- standard (chapter of tions is controlled by repeating lent water temperature of the air mometer. The Hart 1575 Ther- Traceability and uncertainty the calibration of a test sample saturator. mometer is traceable to the of primary references), after one day, and after 1, 2, 4, 6, Finnish National Measurement 8, 12, and 24 months. Traceability and uncertainty of Standards Laboratory for resist- • Uncertainty of calibration In addition, an independent primary references ance1 via the Measurement in MSL, measurement system is used to Standards Laboratory. The cali- • Instability of the working monitor and specify the calibra- The Measurement Standards bration interval is 12 months. references, tion uncertainty. The third – and Laboratory (ref. 1) maintains The Hart 5681 Standard more stringent – cross-checking primary standards for pressure, Platinum Resistance Thermom- • Temperature dependence of method is a flight simulation temperature and humidity at eter is traceable to the Finnish the working references, test for a completed radiosonde. Vaisala Oy and calibrates the National Measurement Stand- • Sampling rate, This is done in an environmen- working references used in ards Laboratory for tempera- tal chamber with variable pres- radiosonde production. ture2. The calibration interval is • Unstability of the calibra- sure, temperature and humidity. The uncertainty presented is 60 months. Between calibration chamber. calculated according to ref. 3, tions, the primary standards are Working references for where all the uncertainty factors compared with a Water Triple The results are presented in radiosonde calibration with the are characterized by the estimat- Point and the appropriate cor- Table 1. CAL4 ed variations and degree of free- rection is used at 2 month inter- The unstability of the work- dom or by the standard devia- vals. The calibration of the ing reference is a factor in the A complete range of pressure tion. The combined uncertainty working references is performed long-term uncertainty of calibra- sensors is used as working refer- is characterized as the sum of in a HART 7100 calibration bath tion (␴l ) and depends on the ences for each pressure cham- the squares of the deviations. (stirred liquid). The stability of control procedure. Other types ber, while a separate ambient The value found is then multi- the bath is measured at 12 of long-term unstabilities (like pressure reference is used to meas- plied by a factor of 2 (k = 2) to month intervals. changes in CAL4 chambers) ure the stability of these sensors get the 2 sigma confidence level. The measurement uncertain- cannot be estimated. They are during the process. When ever The primary standards for ty (k = 2) of these instruments is assumed to be negligible and are the control limit is exceeded, pressure are the Ruska-2465 ±0.02 °C for a range from -100 eliminated with other control immediate test actions are done. Pressure Balance, MKS-Bara- to +100 °C. The primary stand- procedures (repeated calibra- The working references are tron 627 Absolute Pressure ards for humidity are the tion, etc.). calibrated at the Measurement Transducer and MKS SRG-2 General Eastern M-3 dewpoint Long-term uncertainty is re- Standards Laboratory (MSL) at Spinning Rotor Gage. Their cali- meter with a DR-2 sensor and a lated to systematic errors. Vaisala Finland (ref. 1). The pres- bration is directly traceable to General Eastern M-3 dewpoint Radiosonde based uncertainties sure range of the working refer- the National Institute of Stand- meter with a 1311-DR/SR sen- (␴s) (resolution, measurement ences is from 0 to 1100 hPa. The ards and Technology (NIST, sor. They are traceable to the noise, short-term sensor unsta- calibration is repeated every 12 USA), and their recalibration National Physical Laboratory bilities, time response, and so months. The ambient pressure interval is 36 months. Between (NPL, England). The General on) can basically be defined reference is calibrated at MSL calibrations, the primary stand- Eastern M-3 Dew-Point Meter with special measurements and from 950 hPa to 1050 hPa at 6 ards are compared with a similar with a DR-2 or 1311-DR/SR estimates. month intervals. set of working standards at 6 sensor is calibrated every 24 Uncertainty estimated as the Each of the seven tempera- month intervals to be sure that months. Between calibrations, standard deviation of differ- ture chambers has nine refer- any sudden functional changes the primary standards are com- ences in repeated calibration ence sensors. Each set of nine have not happened to the pri- pared with each other at 12 (␴rc) includes uncertainties ␴r thermistors is calibrated at 7 mary standard. month intervals. and ␴s. This means that:

147/1998 5 If ␴l is added to ␴rc, an ini- The representativeness of ␴ ϭ͙ෆෆෆෆ2 2 (6) rs ΀␴ ΁ + ΀␴ ΁ tial (low) estimate (␴t1) of total ␴t2 depends on selected test so f uncertainty (␴t) for an individ- points and test chamber condi- (1) ␴ Ն͙ෆෆෆෆ΀␴ ΁2+ ΀␴ ΁2 ual RS90 radiosonde is reached: tions (temperature with or with- rc r l out humidity, for example). Uncertainty (␴so) can be ␴ Ն͙ෆෆෆෆ΀␴ ΁2 ΀␴ ΁2 When a radiosonde is flying estimated as an example with (2) tl rc + l The measured values for ␴rc are with a balloon, a new set of ␴t1, ␴t2. The repeatability or given in table 2. uncertainties must be consid- reproducibility of soundings The uncertainty is calculated If a specific general purpose ered. They are mainly attribut- must be defined to give the gen- according to ref. 2 and ref. 3, measurement system (indepen- able to dynamic measurement eral variability of sounding where all the uncertainty factors dently from CAL4) is used to or new phenomena (compared measurements, and it can be are characterized by the estimat- monitor and specify the uncer- with CAL4) like solar radiation. compared with ␴t . ed variations and degree of free- tainty of the RS90 radiosonde, All these factors can be estimat- dom or by the standard devia- a standard deviation of meas- ed as uncertainty components Further considerations tion. The combined uncertainty ured differences to measure- (ref. 2) and further combined as is characterized as the sum of ment reference (␴m) and aver- the sum of squares of devia- Vaisala is constantly working to the squares of the deviations. age value (xm) are calculated tions (␴f). The value of ␴t determine and improve the The value found is then multi- from sample inspection of changes as a function of several accuracy of radiosonde meas- plied by a factor of 2 (k = 2) to RS90 production. This meas- variables and therefore the urements and minimize their get the 2 sigma confidence level urement system has its own expression is complicated to uncertainty. Further findings (95.45%); the 3 sigma confi- uncertainty reference (␴ar). formulate. The total uncertain- will be published in future dence level is 99.73%, and the 1 The measured differences are ty of the RS90 sonde (␴rs) in issues of Vaisala News. ■ sigma is 68.26% for normal dis- related to ␴t, ␴ar, ␴s, and soundings can be estimated if tribution. they can be summed as squares (␴so) is the RS90’s uncertainty The values in Tables 1 and 2 of the deviations: of calibration. are preliminary and subject to change during the ramp up of CAL4 to high production vol- (3) + 3␴ Ն • ͙ෆෆෆෆෆ΀␴ ΁2 ΀␴ ΁2 ෆ΀␴ෆ΁2 Ն ␴ umes. xm m 3 t + ar + s xm – 3 m ΀␴ ΁ can be estimated as ΀␴ ΁ References: CAL4 calibration t ΀ Ϯt2 ␴ ΁ uncertainty is a factor in if the maximal value of xm 3 m is used 1. Antero Pitkäkoski: Traceability RS90 uncertainty of measurements at the Radio- estimation in soundings sonde Production of Vaisala Oy, (4) ␴ Յ͙ෆෆෆෆෆෆෆෆෆ΀ Ͳ ␴ ΁2 ΀␴ ΁2 ΀␴ ΁2 t2 xm 3 + m – ar – s (22 September 1997) internal The evaluation scheme pre- report. sented here is subject to detailed and the high estimate is now 2. Guide to the Expression of analysis and testing. The results Uncertainty in Measurements, will be presented at a later stage. (5) ␴ Ͻ͙ෆෆෆෆෆෆෆ΀ Ͳ ␴ ΁2 ΀␴ ΁2 First edition 1993, ISBN 92-67- t2 xm 3+ m – ar 10188-9, International Organiza- tion for Standardization. 3. Expression of Uncertainty of Measurement in Calibration (EARL-R2,1997) European UNCERTAINTY PRESSURE TEMPERATURE HUMIDITY Cooperation for Accreditation hPa °C % RH of Laboratories. 0....1070 +60...... -90 0...... 90 4. Guide to Meteorological Instruments and Methods of SHORT TERM (␴r, k=2) < 0.2 < 0.01 < 0.3....0.8 Observation, Sixth edition, WMO-No.8, 1996 LONG-TERM (␴l, k=2) < 0.12 < 0.03....0.04 < 0.5....2 5. Wexler, Arnold: Vapour TOTAL < 0.23 < 0.3....0.04 < 0.6.....2.1 Pressure Formulation for Water in Range 0 to 100 °C, Journal of σ σ Table 1. Estimated preliminary short- ( r) and long-term ( l ) uncertainty of CAL4 calibration at different Research of the National Bureau calibration points for a 2 sigma confidence level. of Standards-A. Physics and Chemistry Vol 80A Nos 5 and PRESSURE TEMPERATURE HUMIDITY 6, September-December 1976, hPa °C % RH pp 775-785. 6. Hyland, Richard and Wexler, ␴rc (k=2) < 0.4 < 0.1 < 2 Arnold: Formulation of Thermodynamic Properties of average < 0.15 < 0.05 < 1 Saturated phases of H2O from 173.15 K to 473.15 K, Ashrae σ Table 2. Measured preliminary values for the standard deviation of differences in repeated calibrations ( rc ) for a 2 Transactions 1983, part 2A, pp sigma confidence level. 500-513.

6 147/1998 Kauko Pienimäki, M.Sc. (Eng.) Project Manager Upper Air Division Vaisala Helsinki, Finland

The CAL4 project team.

Vaisala’s new CAL4 was specially designed CAL4 Ensures Accurate for calibrating today’s advanced radiosonde sensors. With this Radiosonde Calibration high-capacity equipment, the full poten- ogy. It was specially developed pää, Kari Kokko, Pertti Kovanen, tory, directed by Antero Pitkä- tial of today’s new-gen- for use with the RS90, with the Ari Paukkunen, Kauko Pieni- koski, also played an important eration sensor technol- goal of achieving the full bene- mäki, Osmo Reittu, Matti Sale- role, and the same applies to fit from the advanced pressure, nius, Asko Seppälä, Anssi Thil the tools and project produc- ogy can be utilized. temperature and humidity sen- and Heikki Turtiainen. An addition departments. sors in this new-generation tional 20 people were involved For further information, refer radiosonde. Existing equipment in individual stages of the proj- to the article on pages 4–6 in was not appropriate for the cali- ect. this issue of Vaisala News. ■ bration of the new RS90, which The personnel of Vaisala’s required a more complex cali- Measurement Standards Labora- bration process. Another goal alibration and sensor was to further improve the quality play a key accuracy and reliability of The CAL4 role in the perfor- Vaisala’s calibration procedures calibration C mance of radioson- and equipment. machine. des. For optimum accuracy, all After the assembly phase was Vaisala radiosonde sensors are completed in March 1996, the individually calibrated with sen- first test run was made in April sor electronics. The calibration and the first calibration test in equipment measures the output May. Routine use of CAL4 equip- data of the radiosonde sensors ment began during March–May in defined environmental con- 1997. In June 1997, the CAL4 ditions and computes individ- operations were transferred to ual calibration coefficients for radiosonde production. each sensor. During the sounding, ground equipment uses Dedicated CAL4 team these coefficients to calculate accurate measurement values More than 30 Vaisala specialists From the left: from the sensor output data participated in the CAL4 devel- Hannu transmitted by the radiosonde. opment project. The team mem- Kankaanpää The CAL4 is fully automatic bers handled tasks ranging from and Hannu and can run unmanned. It has a electrical, electronic and me- Jauhiainen capacity of about 180 radioson- chanical assembly and software showing the des per hour, or about 4000 radio- engineering to calibration pro- calibration sondes per day. cess definition and instrumenta- tray with tion and system design. sensor units. In-house development The members of the core project team (in alphabetical order) were: Georgij Brown, Markku The CAL4 is an important step Hartikainen, Hannu Jauhiainen, forward in calibration technol- Markku Juusti, Hannu Kankaan-

147/19 9 8 7 Marit Finne Editor-in-Chief Vaisala News Vaisala Helsinki, Finland

ZAMG’s facilities (Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik) are located in Vienna, Austria.

In a series of twin soundings, ZAMG car- Promising Pilot Test Results of the ried out a month-long comparison test between Vaisala’s RS80 New RS90 Radiosonde and new RS90 radiosondes. in Vienna Conducted in Vienna in May 1997, the test demonstrated the good performance of the RS90 and the advan- tages of the RS90 over ublic and private meteorological network consists or four times a day. In July 1996, demand for the ser- of 160 weather stations of vary- we replaced our old radiosound- the RS80 for synoptic vices of ZAMG ing designs. It is ZAMG’s policy ing system with Vaisala equip- observations. P (Zentralanstalt für to develop their own observa- ment. Thanks to this change, Based on the test Meteorologie und Geodynamik), tion systems and integrate them just one person is needed to op- including weather forecasts, with equipment from other erate the system,” explains Mr. results, ZAMG began weather observations, and storm manufacturers. Erwin Polreich, from ZAMG’s using Vaisala’s RS90 and black-ice warnings, has “ZAMG conducts soundings Remote Sensing Division. radiosonde for routine increased in Austria,” says Mr. with wind- and radiosondes twice soundings at its aero- Kurt Zimmermann, Head of ZAMG’s Remote Sensing logical station in Division. “We have to be pre- The RS90–RS80 November 1997. pared to meet the needs of ever radiosonde tests and more demanding customers. data collection were For this reason, ZAMG wants conducted by Mr. to be at the forefront with its Kurt Zimmermann use of advanced weather ob- (left) and Mr. servation technology.” Erwin Polreich from As Mr. Zimmermann ex- ZAMG in Vienna. plains, his department is responsible for the ZAMG meteorological measurement network throughout Austria, as well as weather radars and satellite re- ceiving systems. Today, their

8 147/19 9 8 Hannu Jauhiainen, Vaisala’s RS90 Project Manager.

ification for the GRIB code can Summary of the test be found in the WMO Pub- results lication 306 Manual on Codes). The temperature differences Project Manager Hannu Jauhi- for both types of radiosondes ainen has played a key role in were compared against the RS90 radiosonde development model at standard pressure lev- at Vaisala. els of 30, 50 and 100 hPa; see As he explains, “The test show- Table 2. WMO radiosonde inter- ed that the new RS90 sensors comparison software was used are more accurate and offer bet- to analyze the pressure, tempera- ter time constants than their pre- ture and humidity vs. height decessors. As expected, the re- profiles (WMO, instruments and sults indicate some variance in observing methods REPORT the measured PTU values be- No:60, WMO/TD No.991, tween the RS90 and RS80. This 1996). Figures 1, 2 and 3 show is mainly attributable to factors The one-balloon twin soundings were made on ordinary weekdays at 12:00 the calculated RS90–RS80 dif- such as calibration, the tempera- GMT in May 1997 by ZAMG sounding station operators. From the left: ferences for temperature, pres- ture dependence compensation Mr. Engelmann and Mr. Zimmermann. Photo by Mr. Schrammel, ZAMG. sure and humidity. of the sensors, sensor size,

Radiosonde evaluation ond, height and temperature RS80 (n=32) RS90 (n=32) covers three data from the RS90 and RS80 Mean (m) Std dev. (m) Mean (m) Std dev. (m) performance areas soundings were compared with corresponding data from the 100 hPa -1.2 9.6 -10.1 8.1 ZAMG’s comparison test con- ECMWF (European Centre for sisted of a series of twin sound- Medium-Range Weather Fore- 50 hPa 2.0 15.8 -7.9 12.5 ings with Vaisala’s RS80 and casts) analysis fields. Third, the 30 hPa 6.3 18.2 -1.8 13.6 new RS90 radiosondes. The PTU (pressure, temperature, test and data collection, which humidity) values measured by were carried out in Vienna, the RS90 radiosonde were Table 1. Height differences (sonde–model) against the ECMWF model. Austria, in May 1997, were con- checked against the corre- Standard pressure level heights of 30, 50 and 100 hPa for both radiosondes ducted by Mr. Zimmermann, sponding values for the RS80 were compared against the ECMWF analysis fields. Mr. Polreich and their other using software developed for colleagues from ZAMG. WMO radiosonde intercom- RS80 (n=32) RS90 (n=32) ZAMG’s own standard soft- parisons.” Mean (°C) Std dev. (°C) Mean (°C) Std dev. (°C) ware and Vaisala’s DigiCORA Standard pressure level heights ground equipment were used of 30, 50 and 100 hPa for both for the comparison test. radiosondes were compared 100 hPa 0.1 1.3 0.04 1.52 Mr. Zimmermann explains against the ECMWF analysis how the 32-twin-sounding test fields, the results of which are 50 hPa 1.1 1.2 1.15 1.12 was performed: “The RS90 presented in Table 1. (For fur- 30 hPa 0.4 1.2 0.61 1.32 radiosonde was evaluated in ther information about the three performance areas. First, ECMWF forecasting system, Table 2. Temperature differences (sonde–model) against the ECMWF model. the radiosondes were tested in see Meteorological Bulletin The temperature differences for both types of radiosondes were compared ground check mode against M3.2, User Guide to ECMWF against the model at standard pressure levels of 30, 50 and 100 hPa. ground weather references. Sec- Products, edition 2.1. The spec-

147/1998 9 TEMPERATURE CONSISTENT DIFFERENCES P ,hPa (n=32, reference:RS80) 10 sensor stability and time re- ence was greater because of the sponse. Even so, the differences RS90’s improved temperature between the two radiosonde dependency compensation and types are clearly smaller than more accurate humidity calibra- the typical variance between the tion.” radiosonde data from one sounding station to another or RS90 in operational RS80-RS80 between the analysis fields pro- use at ZAMG duced by the main operational 100 RS90-RS80 models.” As described above, RS90 sen- Std Dev In large part, the differences sor technology offers improved between the temperature meas- accuracy compared with the urements of the two radioson- current RS80. des are due to the faster re- The comparisons with the sponse of the RS90 sensor to analysis fields also produced ambient temperature changes. convincing results. Table 1 As Mr. Jauhiainen notes, this shows the comparison of stand- 1000 phenomenon is dependent on ard pressure level measure- -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Temperature difference ,C the temperature profile. In the ments with analysis data from troposphere, the variance is the ECMWF. The RS90 obser- Figure 1. RS90–RS80 temperature difference mainly a function of the RS80 vations yielded slightly lower (mean value and standard deviation). temperature sensor lag resulting standard pressure level heights PRESSURE CONSISTENT DIFFERENCES from the small but systematic than those of the RS80, typical- P ,hPa (n=32, reference:RS80) warm bias in the temperature ly 10 meters up to 30 hPa. The 10 measurements of this sonde difference in calculated height – type. At high altitudes, the time derived from the hydrostatic response of the sensors is a criti- equation – is explained by the cal parameter when the tempera- faster response temperature sen- ture profile has a high gradient. sor, and is in agreement with The increased variability of the Vaisala’s expectations. profile can be explained by the The data from the RS90 and RS80-RS80 high response of the new sensor RS80 soundings was also tested 100 RS90-RS80 type. In the stratosphere, T-lag against the corresponding data accounts for roughly one-half of from the ECMWF model fields. Std Dev the difference. The rest is the The findings show that the result of differences in the radia- RS90 radiosonde performs bet- tion correction characteristics ter than the RS80 in synoptic between the RS90 and RS80. observations. Based on these “The RS90 pressure sensor results, ZAMG began opera- produces more accurate results. tional soundings with the RS90 The difference in measured pres- at their aerological station in 1000 sure reflects the improved ther- November 1997. ■ -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 Pressure difference ,hPa mal compensation of the RS90’s pressure sensor. The pressure Figure 2. RS90–RS80 pressure difference variance between RS80 and (mean value and standard deviation). RS90, however, is small.” For more detailed information on ZAMG’s radiosonde com- HUMIDITY CONSISTENT DIFFERENCES “The low mean and standard P ,hPa (n=32, reference: RS80) deviation values for the humid- parison, please request the 100 ity variance are related to the Information Release from Ritva relatively dry weather condi- Siikamäki, Vaisala Oy. e-mail: tions during the test. When the [email protected] or weather was cloudy, the differ- fax +358-9-894-9210.

RS80-RS80

RS90-RS80

Std Dev

1000 -10123456 Humidity difference , %RH Figure 3. RS90–RS80 humidity difference (mean value and standard deviation).

10 147/1998 New AUTOSONDE Installations in Australia

Vaisala’s AUTOSONDE in Cobar in May 1997.

After delivering four n early 1996, the Vai- wind data for the Bureau’s upper strong local presence. This is to AUTOSONDEs to sala Melbourne Of- air observation network. The ensure that they have capable Australia in 1996–1997, fice delivered a dem- installation of four more support for the AUTOSONDEs I onstration AUTO- AUTOSONDEs is planned in on site, as the current sites are Vaisala will supply SONDE to the Bureau of Western Australia and Queens- quite remote within the Bureau four more units to the Meteorology for evaluation. land in 1998. observing network. The Bureau country in 1998. The The AUTOSONDE was install- The conditions vary widely of Meteorology’s support for conditions in Australia ed at the Bureau’s training facil- across Australia, and the the AUTOSONDE has been ity in Melbourne, Australia, and AUTOSONDE is expected to tremendous so far, and Vaisala cover a wide range, underwent a series of trials. This operate in all of them, from the Melbourne expects that with from the desert-like unit was subsequently pur- desert-like Cobar region to the this level of support, the suc- Cobar region to the chased and is now used to train extremely humid and tropical cessful completion of the four tropical environment Bureau observations and tech- conditions on Cocos Island. installations scheduled for this nical staff. Few instruments can cover year will proceed without prob- on Cocos Island. As As the saying goes, the rest is such a range of operating con- lem. these installations history. In 1997 three addition- ditions. With the close coopera- As with the introduction have shown, Vaisala’s al AUTOSONDEs were in- tion of the engineers at Vaisala of any new technology, the full stalled in Cobar (Central New Melbourne, Vaisala Helsinki impact of the installed AUTO- AUTOSONDE can South Wales), Cocos Island (an and the Bureau, the installation SONDEs will not be felt in the handle them all. Australian territory in the program is on schedule and Bureau synoptic network for Indian Ocean) and Learmonth progressing well. some time. However, the capabil- in Western Australia. These The Bureau of Meteorology ity for a fully automated radio- AUTOSONDEs are now fully has selected the AUTOSONDE sonde launch already exists, operational and provide pres- sites very carefully, targeting lo- and the benefits are sure to ex- sure, temperature, humidity and cations where they have a pand in the future. ■

147/19 9 8 11 Sakari Kajosaari Program Manager JMA Upper Air Division Vaisala Helsinki Finland Upgrades Three ASAP Sounding Systems The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) upgraded three of its ASAP ships for GPS wind finding in September 1997. The following article gives a first-hand account of the upgrading process on the Chofu Maru, Kofu Maru and Seifu Maru.

aisala developed the Sato from Sanko Tsusho Co., The Kofu Maru was in the zero wind test produced ASAP container in who was my guide during part Hakodate, where its overhaul accurate wind readings. We close cooperation of my visit. I am also very grate- had already been completed. were not able to make real V with JMA, which in- ful to the entire staff of JMA JMA was in the process of in- soundings in the harbor, so I stalled a container on board for their hospitality, and espe- stalling other measurement was quite pleased to see Kofu their observation ships. Ships cially to Mr. Yoshinobu Moriya equipment for the next trip, Maru’s TEMP messages in the for oceanographic and meteoro- from JMA’s Climate and including several meteorologi- GTS (Global Telecommuni- logical observations have been Maritime Department. cal and oceanographical sys- cation System) network in equipped with Vaisala upper air tems. Working with Mr. Sakurai October four weeks later. equipment on board. The orig- Successful GPS upgrades from Vaisala’s Tokyo office, I The third upgrade, on the inal Vaisala ASAP containers installed a new DigiCORA. Seifu Maru docked in Maizuru, were installed from 1987 to 1992 In Nagasaki, with the 19th The people from the JMA office also went smoothly. The JMA on these three ships. typhoon of the season looming in Hakodate, especially Mr. personnel on board the ship on the horizon, the overhaul of Aizawa, were also very helpful. were very interested in learning Smooth teamwork the Chofu Maru was underway As our trials demonstrated, more about their new GPS sys- when I visited the ship. Even the upgraded system worked tem and how it differed from Three of the Japan Meteoro- the hull had been recently well. It received transmissions the previous Omega system. ■ logical Agency’s ASAP ships painted. The ship’s sounding from six to seven satellites, and were in dock for an overhaul in system was fairly close to the September 1997, providing an original delivery in 1988. The excellent opportunity to up- upgrade included the installa- On the Kofu Maru in grade their DigiCORA systems tion of METGRAPH on the Hakodate: a training for GPS wind finding. All three PC and new software in the session to use the ships – the Chofu Maru, Kofu DigiCORA. The successful METGRAPH Maru and Seifu Maru – have Vai- GPS signal reception to the program on the PC. sala ASAP containers with a bal- DigiCORA system was con- loon launcher and DigiCORA firmed by using a so called wind ground equipment. The PC zero test. By monitoring wind user interface has been custom- speed from a stationary radio- ized for each ship. sonde, known as a zero wind As part of the upgrading test, we checked the results of process, new software was in- the upgrade. stalled in the DigiCORA, and The Seifu Maru was the overall condition of the docked in Maizuru. entire sounding system was checked. To help operators monitor the soundings, the upgrade also included the installation of the METGRAPH sounding analysis program on each ship. Vaisala’s Tokyo office provided an excellent three-man team for the job. Mr. Naito, The upgrading of the Mr. Sakurai and Mr. Matsuzaki DigiCORA system on board were available at all times to the Chofu Maru in Nagasaki. help with any problems. My From the left: Mr. Sakurai warm thanks extend to Mr. and Mr. Naito.

12 147/19 9 8 Reliability and accuracy at a low cost-of-ownership MAWS - Automatic Weather Stations

Vaisala’s new low-cost mall MAWS weath- easy to modify with the help of ments. This ensures the reliabil- Mini Automatic er stations are new- the Windows-based “Lizard” ity of the measured data. Weather Stations generation series of set-up program. This set-up The MAWS series of small S automatic weather utility provides straightforward AWSs offers low power con- (MAWS) combine the stations (AWS) for both perma- basic setup procedures using sumption and high processing company’s proven nent installations and applica- ready-made templates that capacity in the same unit. The sensor technology tions requiring portability. The guide the user through the sim- design of MAWS ensures reli- MAWS offers high perfor- ple set-up routines. While easy able operation with low main- with a new compact mance in a very compact pack- to use, there are enough set-up tenance costs. design. Derived from age. These stations are an ideal options to satisfy even the the same expertise that choice for a wide range of most demanding user. Versatile characteristics made MILOS 500 the meteorological applications requiring reliable and accurate Accurate and reliable Data output: Convenient pre- leading AWS for the meteorological measurements formatted data messages cover synoptic observations, at a low cost-of-ownership. Utilizing Vaisala’s field-proven most needs, but the data out- MAWS stations offer design and accurate sensors, puts can also be formatted an excellent alternative User-friendly weather MAWS provides features that freely to meet the needs of the station were previously available only user’s applications. Alarm mes- for applications requir- in larger systems. The basic sages are automatically sent ing ease of installation The MAWS is simple to set up. suite of sensors measures wind, whenever a user-set alarm and use at a competi- All sensors are equipped with pressure, temperature, relative threshold has been exceeded. ready-made cables and connec- humidity and precipitation. In Each sensor and calculated pa- tive price. tors for easy installation, and addition, measurements can be rameter has its own alarm set- all components fit together made of soil/water tempera- tings. effortlessly. No special tools are tures, solar radiation, net radia- Versatile data logging: required for installation. tion and water level. MAWS provides easy data log- Once the station is assem- The use of a 32-bit CPU, a ging. Two megabytes of secure bled and the power is connect- 16-bit A/D conversion and ad- flash memory is available for ed, the MAWS is fully opera- vanced software ensure the con- the logging of measured and tional. Sensor measurements, cal- tinuous accuracy of the weath- calculated data and complete culations, data logging and er information. reports. Several logging sched- transmission are performed ac- The mechanical design is com- ules are possible, all user select- cording to a user-configured pro- pact, rugged and weatherproof, able. Various statistical calcula- gram. and can tolerate operation in tions can be made on-site, thus The operation of the MAWS is difficult conditions. The MAWS reducing the amount of data to is made from corrosion-resis- be transmitted or logged. tant anodized aluminum, with Calculations: Statistical cal- double 0-ring seals used in the culations include minimum, Hannu Kokko, B.Sc. (Eng.) enclosure. The cables are made maximum, averages, standard Product Manager from high-quality polyurethane, deviation, and cumulative val- Surface Weather Division with molded connectors that ues, calculated over user set Vaisala Helsinki are watertight in compliance intervals. In addition, there is a Finland with the IP68 standard. library of ready-made calcula- The built-in quality control tions, including unit conver- software checks the sensor data sions, dew point, QNH, QFF, against the user-set climatologi- QFE, evapotranspiration, wind cal limits and the step changes chill and heat stress, for between successive measure- example.

147/19 9 8 13 Communication options: The MAWS weather station has up to five serial ports for inter- facing with telemetry, termi- MAWS201 nals, and displays. One RS-232 – Weather Data on the Move port is standard. Two optional plug-in modules can be used MAWS201 is a highly portable AWS with a lightweight alu- for even greater versatility. minum tripod for rapid and easy deployment. Each leg is There is a dual RS-232 module adjustable, allowing easy installation on uneven terrain. for short distance communica- Thanks to its compact design, the MAWS201 weighs only 15 tion and an isolated RS-485 kg with 5 basic sensors, a solar panel, and an internal battery. module for distances up to Applications include military support, civil defense, tempo- 1,500 meters. The DMX501 rary airstrips and remote AWS, as well as environmental fixed line modem handles impact studies and research, to name a few. longer distances. Data can be accessed on-site with a PC or handheld terminal, or remotely with a radio modem. A new generation mobile AWS. Upgrading: The design of the MAWS enables easy system upgrading with new sensors, calculations, output formats, and logging schedules at any time to accommodate changing requirements. The software modi- fications are made using the MAWS101 – User-friendly AWS Lizard set-up program, with the new sensors simply connected The MAWS101 saves time and money when installing, using, to the free connectors. and maintaining a basic AWS. Thanks to its compact, light- Power supply options: The weight design, installation does not require a large concrete foun- MAWS offers low power con- dation. The station is best suited to applications such as hydrol- sumption. Using a standard 2.2 ogy, precipitation networks, energy production and management, W solar panel and 1.3 Ah/6 V building automation and other applied meteorological tasks. battery, the MAWS can operate The MAWS101 comes as a stand-alone unit in a compact independently for extended pe- enclosure or a model suited to mast installation (total height riods of time. An extra solar three meters). The stand-alone unit is an excel- panel and batteries, as well as a lent choice for customer-specific installations mains power supply are all where standard tripod or mast installations optional. are not feasible options. The basic suite of MAWS stations also interface sensors and accessories is the same as with with UHF and Spread Spec- the MAWS201. trum radios. ■

For more detailed information and specifications for the MAWS and its sensors, please visit and book- mark our Web site at: www.vaisala.com A new generation mini-AWS.

YourVIEW graphic user interface software displays the data graphically as well as transferring display snapshot and animations onto the Web. The data messages and files can also be sent automatically via e-mail and FTP transfers.

14 147/1998 Vaisala’s new communication modules from the left: (1) DSI485 An isolated full & half duplex RS-485 module, Kai Inha (2) DSU232 Non-isolated dual RS-232C, (3) DMX501 Leased line modem module, (4) DCA501 CAN field bus R&D Manager module. Surface Weather Division Vaisala Helsinki Finland New communication modules Important Step Towards Open Communication

Vaisala’s new communi- aisala has developed are relatively expensive, howev- At the moment, WIND30 cation concept makes it a new communica- er, and they occupy expansion Wind Displays and DD50 Digi- faster and easier to con- tion concept for slots that could be used other- tal Displays support these mod- V linking Vaisala’s new wise. ules. In the future, it will be nect Vaisala wind dis- wind displays, sensors and The four new modules are possible to use the communi- plays, sensors, and automatic weather stations. designed to make it easier and cation modules with the five weather stations, as well This concept also supports simpler to interconnect units product families that Vaisala is communication between Vai- and systems. The modules are currently developing. as third party products. sala units and third party prod- 28 mm x 63 mm x 15 mm in The communication ucts. The new communication size, and they are specially de- Taking full advantage modules are specially modules are another step towards signed for applications where of the new modules open systems and open com- limited space, extremely low designed for applica- munication, where customers power consumption require- The DSI485 module has been tions where space is at a can select between different ments and harsh environmen- designed for applications where premium, power con- industry standard communica- tal conditions apply. The new point-to-point or multidrop sumption must be kept tion methods. At no extra cost, modules are as follows: RS-485 communication speeds customers can choose the most low and the ambient useful solution, and when environment is harsh. needs or standards change, the system is easy to update. DSI485 An isolated full & half duplex RS-485 module

Versatile modules for DSU232 Non-isolated dual RS-232C module (or single harsh environments RS-232C port with CTS and RTS).

Vaisala’s basic products typical- DMX501 Leased line modem module (300 to 2400 bps, ly come with an RS-232C port. multidrop or point-to-point) Some large systems, including the MILOS 500, can be expand- DCA501 500 kbps CAN field bus module for high speed ed using plug-in PCB modules communication such as modems. These boards

147/19 9 8 15 Dr. Tamas Prager, Director Hungarian Meteorological Service Budapest, Hungary

n line with its long- term strategy, the new directorate of Installation of a modem I HMS decided to communication module rationalize all of its profession- in the WIND30 display. al activities. The final goal was to ensure the continuation and development of basic opera- can reach up to 38 kbps and Vaisala host system carrying the tional activities, including mete- where isolation is required be- module. orological observations, weath- cause of long cabling and exter- The DCA501 CAN (Con- er forecasting and climatologi- nal noise. The DSI485 also trolled Area Network) module cal data archiving. Ambitious eliminates the troublesome was designed to interface with upgrading and step-by-step ground loops that easily lead to fast industrial measurement automation of the meteorolo- unpredictability in system in- and control systems. Data rates gical and environmental observ- stallation and to unstable op- can reach up to 500 kbps. The ing systems began in 1992. erations. The communication module has its own communi- HMS has also provided staff protocol depends on the host cations processor, which is pre- training on the new technology unit. programmed to handle all the and operating methods. The DSU232 carries two error correction and package independent RS-232C chan- handling procedures that are nels. It can also be used in a required in a CAN network. mode where only one channel The DCA501 module will only Hungary automates with CTS and RTS handshake transfer correctly addressed mes- signals is in use. The module is sages to the host, and in this designed for applications re- way dramatically reduces the quiring local serial port expan- host system CPU load. A typi- sion. It has no isolation but like cal conductor is a twisted pair all new modules, it is very well less than 100 meters in length. Ambitious protected against overvoltage, The module is non-isolated EMI and ESD. according to Basic CAN stand- The DMX501 is a complete ards, but it can deal with The Hungarian Upgrades of modem for leased lines. It is extended CAN messages. CAN radiosounding stations compliant with several modem communication is used be- Meteorological Service standards such as 300 bps V.21, tween Vaisala’s QLC50 units in (HMS) has begun an The first step in the moderniza- 1200 bps V.22 & V.23 and 2400 distributed real-time measure- extensive update of its tion process was to refurbish bps V.22 bis. The module is ment systems, for instance. obsolete radiosounding equip- adapted for systems with com- Vaisala is studying future meteorological equipment at each of HMS’s two munication distances ranging environmental measurement ment. Ever since aerological stations. The old from zero to over ten kilo- applications. The special com- HMS started the step- Soviet-based ground equip- meters using leased telephone munication needs and stand- by-step automation of ment at the central Budapest- grade cables. Although the mo- ards in the field of building Lorinc observatory was re- dem is not approved by PTTs, automation, for example, have the country’s meteoro- placed with a Vaisala DigiCORA it has been designed to meet been identified, and new com- logical network in sounding system and RS-80 most of the relevant standards. munication modules for these 1991, Vaisala’s radiosondes in spring 1991. Any commercial brand with future applications are now advanced technology, This was followed in 1994 by the required modes can be used under development. ■ the replacement of the same as the third party modem with including radiosound- technology at the Szeged aero- the DMX501. The DMX55 and ing and synoptic and logical station with Vaisala PC- DMX50 system modems of the climatological stations, CORA ground equipment. MILOS 500 are also compat- For more information about The experience of the past ible. However, it should be CAN, please visit the following has been used in the six years has been very positive: noted that the DMX501 is not www site: network. the new equipment has ‘revolu- an AT modem and that the http://www.can-cia.de (CiA stands tionized’ aerological operations possible modes depend on the for CAN In Automation) in Hungary. After retraining,

16 147/1998 Dr. Tamas Prager, Director Hungarian Meteorological Service Budapest, Hungary

16 147/19 9 8 MILOS 500 installation in the Sopron windmill, which houses the synoptic station.

tions. Strategic considerations ect for operations in the included the need to reduce Hungarian environment. In observation and maintenance close cooperation technical costs, upgrade old systems with experts from Vaisala, HMS and advanced technology, and reas- Köszofa Bt. (a local informa- sign the retained observers to tion technology company) more appropriate tasks. solved all the problems in one Completion of the moderni- year, and the final network zation was planned in two proj- architecture was created. ects: the Synoptic Network The pace of installation work Automation Project (SNAP) has been very rapid since 1995. and the Climate Network Auto- Seventeen MILOS 500 stations mation Project (CNAP). were operational by the end of that year, and in 1996 the num- Synoptic Network ber of operating stations reach- Automation Project ed 27. By the end of 1997, all the The Synoptic Network Auto- manned synoptic stations in mation Project (SNAP) began Hungary, which are operated in 1992, when HMS invited jointly by the Meteorological several companies to tender for Service (17), the Hungarian the automatic synoptic stations. Home Defense Forces (6) and After a careful evaluation of some educational institutions the options, HMS awarded (2), were automated, and seven Vaisala a contract for five stand-alone MILOS 500s were its observation network Upgrading Project

the observers and technical Modernization of MILOS 500 weather stations, also installed at new sites. With staff at each station were freed meteorological which were subsequently in- these 32 stations (all owned by for other tasks utilizing the new observing network stalled at various synoptic sta- HMS and maintained uni- technology. The modern equip- gains momentum tions in 1993. formly) the first phase of auto- ment made it possible to merge The experts at HMS were mation was successfully com- the jobs of weather observers In 1992, the directorate of the convinced of the need for an ad- pleted. and radiosonde operators at Meteorological Service made a vanced solution that met high both observatories. strategic decision to modernize technical requirements for qual- Architecture of the Since September 1997, the its synoptic and climate obser- ity, reliability and low main- synoptic network phase-out of the OMEGA vation networks. tenance costs. Vaisala’s MILOS windfinding system has pre- At both synoptic and clima- 500 automatic weather station, The network operation design- sented a new challenge for tological stations, the traditional which is an automatic environ- ed in 1995 was so successful radiosounding. After intensive manually operated instruments mental data acquisition system, that it is currently working with- consultation with Vaisala ex- were to be replaced by auto- met these requirements. Design- out significant changes, with the perts and a field study carried matic equipment that could be ed for extreme conditions, it is exception of some minor soft- out in September 1996, HMS operated in a stand-alone re- modular and cost-effective, with ware updates and modifica- made the decision to upgrade gime, without human surveil- high processing power and flexi- tions. It is based on the soft- its radiosounding equipment lance. The need for moderniza- bility in terms of configuration. ware for the MILOS 500 and to a LORAN-C windfinding tion was becoming pressing in In the beginning, the station YourWay, as well as the KTX system. Plans have also been Hungary, because the existing had data communications as data communications software made to use GPS windfinding meteorological instruments were well as data collection and pro- developed by Köszofa. In addi- in radiosounding operations in poor technical condition, and cessing problems. The conclu- tion to its basic function, KTX starting in the year 2000. there were fewer voluntary ob- sion at the end of this pilot is also suitable for electronic servers available to run the sta- phase was to revamp the proj- mail, status checks, interroga-

147/1998 17 ‘Classic’ MILOS 500 installation at the Baja synoptic station. tion of stations and software maintenance (automatic down- loading, etc.) via the network. A very user-friendly (and development. About sixty fully ‘observer-friendly’) editor pro- automated (stand-alone) weath- gram of various meteorological er stations are being imple- messages or telegrams (SYNOP, mented in the modernized cli- SPECI, METAR, etc.) makes it matological network, so togeth- possible to add human obser- er with the synoptic stations, vations to the AWS generated there should be one AWS for messages. The editor program every 1000 km2 of area on aver- contains basic syntactic and me- age. All stations will provide teorological control of the data, quasi-realtime data communi- making it very flexible. cation (at least once a day) via Data transmission from the public telephone lines and the synoptic stations takes place X.25 network, with the same every hour – between 45 and 50 basic measurement profile minutes of the hour – using the extending to temperature, grass public X.25 network. At this level temperature, humidity, time not only the SYNOP mes- wind speed, wind direction and sage, but a data package con- precipitation. taining 10 minute averages and extreme values of measured Twenty-five new QLC data is also transmitted. Syn- stations in the climate optic stations, located at air- network ports, produce METAR messages every 30 minutes. SPECI The selection of the instrument messages are generated and supplier, again, was the result transmitted either automatical- of a multi-national tender with ly or under the observer’s super- about 20 companies from both vision. In case of an emergen- Europe and North America cy, the system performs data participating. Vaisala won the transmission every 10 minutes. tender with the new QLC50 In Hungary, the measure- data collector which it had ment profile of automated syn- introduced at that time. The optic weather stations is rather decision was also influenced, of wide. Besides the standard me- course, by the possible maxi- teorological parameters such as mum uniformity of the two pressure, temperature, wind networks, including the use of speed and direction, humidity, Climate Network are much the same as simple the same sensors and the most precipitation, etc., many stations Automation Project raingauge stations. They only compatible data collecting units. also measure the following: make temperature observations Installation of the automated The process of modernizing twice a day, registering daily climatological stations, known • Soil temperatures at depths the Climate Network Auto- maximum and minimum tem- simply as ‘QLC stations’, of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 cm mation Project (CNAP) was peratures. There are 50–60 such began in 1996. By the end of (18 stations), started in 1995. The traditional stations throughout the coun- 1997, twenty-five stations had • Water temperature of an climate network in Hungary try. been implemented. This is a adjacent lake (2 stations), has always consisted of two In a significant feature of the ‘brand new’ climate network, types of stations. climate network, about 75 per because about 80 per cent of • Global solar radiation (15 The climatological stations cent of the stations give daily the stations have been installed stations), with a wider measurement pro- reports of the measured data at a different place than the • Solar UV-B radiation (4 file, called K4 type stations, and the weather conditions previous ‘traditional’ station in stations), make observations four times a from the previous day, so the the area. Completion of the • Radioactivity, i.e. gamma- day. The meteorological param- data transmission is quasi-real- installations is scheduled for dose rate in the ambient eters to be measured are tem- time. These reports constitute a the end of 1998, and full imple- air (10 stations). perature (daily maximum, mini- significant part of the Daily mentation of the network for mum), grass level temperature, Meteorological Bulletin issued the end of 1999. The data from these sensors is humidity and precipitation. In by the Meteorological Service. Many additional plans polled by the local MILOS 500 many places wind speed and These changes were needed regarding the structure and station, so the station is used as direction, sunshine duration to ensure the future viability of functions of the network have a complex meteorological and and soil temperatures are also the climatological network. arisen in the meantime. In the environmental data logger. All included. At the beginning of Both weather forecasters and original design, special func- stations are equipped with pre- the 1990s, there were about 40 climatologists required at least tions, including wide-area cipitation detectors, because in K4 stations, and today there are the same level of information storm warning, were planned for stand-alone regimes, the first less than 30. from the modernized network the five stations around Lake signal from the tipping bucket The climatological stations as from the traditional one. Balaton. This required the capa- gauge often comes too late for with a smaller measurement These requirements deter- bility to issue warnings and auto- alerting purposes. profile, called K2 type stations, mined the goals for the CNAP matically transmit the meas-

18 147/1998 ‘Classic’ MILOS 500 installation at the Gyõr synoptic station.

ured data to the Siófok Storm and human observers differ Warning Observatory, when from each other, but in some the wind speed exceeds a set 50–60 per cent of the cases the limit value. The decision to categories were identical or include the same function at all very close. the stations was made later on, This year, there are plans to and the idea is now in the test a compact AW11 airfield implementation phase. Anoth- weather reporter at the Debre- er plan was to install 3–4 sta- cen airport. This relatively eco- tions within the city limits of nomical and multifunctional Budapest in order to set up an instrument seems to best fit the urban climate network. Sites in requirements of an average the characteristic residential civilian airport in Hungary. If and industrial areas of the town the results of the experimental were chosen accordingly, and phase are positive, the inten- installations began. tion is to launch a project to automate the visual observa- Laying the groundwork tions at every synoptic station for a quality system using Vaisala’s AW11 aviation weather reporter. A new quality system is being Summarizing the above, the built up in parallel with the story of the modernization of step-by-step automation of the the meteorological observation measuring networks in Hungary. networks in Hungary has been Several components of the one of continuing successful existing quality system had to Automation of airport CT25K laser ceilometer were cooperation between Hungar- be updated for integration with meteorological stations installed. The measuring instru- ian meteorological organiza- automated measurements. First ments were complemented by tions and Vaisala. ■ of all, the regular checking and More than 50 per cent of all standard workstations for the calibration of the electronic sen- synoptic stations in the Hun- flight controller and the avia- sors required a new calibration garian network are located at tion meteorologist. The work- laboratory, which was set up in airfields. The synoptic stations stations were configured with 1996–1997. at military airfields are operated the data management and vis- The new facility is suitable by the personnel of the Mili- ualization software. This repre- for the calibration of almost all tary Meteorological Service. sented the first military airfield the types of sensors used in the An important step was taken meteorological system supplied automated networks: tempera- in 1997, when the Military Me- by Vaisala in Hungary. ture and humidity sensors, pres- teorological Service started an The first experiences with the sure transducers, tipping buck- automation project of aviation new meteorological instrumen- et raingauges, windvanes and weather observations at the tation have been very positive. solar radiation sensors. The only Kecskemét Military Airfield. Flight controllers and pilots exception is anemometers. The The project began with a tender rely on the data produced by Meteorological Service does in spring 1997. the new instrumentation. With not have a wind tunnel, so it The tender specifications the new automatic aviation uses a stable rotating frame to included a strong requirement weather system the Kecskemét check the status of these instru- for conformity with the exist- airfield fulfills the requirements ments. ing automated network. In for a NATO airfield. Parallel measurements with addition, the observed and meas- This process will gain momen- the old and new instruments ured data had to be transmit- tum for meteorological instru- are an integral part of the qual- ted, as from any other synoptic mentation for other military ity system. These will be made station, to the Meteorological airfields too. at each synoptic station until Service’s NETSYS telecommu- The civilian meteorological the automated devices have nication computer. organization, the Hungarian been installed. To collect suffi- The meteorological system Meteorological Service is mov- ciently long data series for specified for the airfield con- ing in a slightly different direc- homogenization, the parallel tained two wind speed, wind tion in the automation of vis- measurements will be con- direction and RVR sensor units ual observations. An FD12P tinued until the year 2000. at both ends of the runway, as present weather sensor was The technical documenta- well as a cloud height ceilom- installed in 1995 at the tion of the quality system is eter and an AWS containing a Budapest-Lorinc Observatory being prepared to conform with standard synoptic sensor in the and has been in experimental ISO 9000 regulations, bearing middle of the runway. use since then. in mind that Vaisala’s Quality Vaisala won the tender with The results of comparisons Stand-alone MILOS 500 in System has been certified to its up-to-date instruments. The of the present weather cat- Záhony, on the northeastern border meet the ISO 9000 standards. FD12 visibility sensors and a egories observed by the FD12P of the country.

147/1998 19 Marit Finne Editor-in-Chief Vaisala News Vaisala Helsinki Finland

Vaisala’s MILOS 500 weather station and PHOTO COURTESY: JONAS BRANE, VOLVO. QLC50 data collector were installed in spring 1998 at the Volvo Proving Ground in Hällered, Sweden. The new equipment will be used for weather monitoring at the site where Volvo tests and develops its cars, trucks and buses. A Volvo car during a drift test in Hällered. Volvo Proving Ground in Hällered, Sweden Safety...

vides an important resource for able to supervise the tests on all the department’s work. Mr. the tracks and register the Dan Melander works as a traf- weather conditions during the fic controller in Hällered. He is tests. The MILOS 500 station responsible for security and was installed to monitor the safety conditions on the tracks, weather conditions very close

PHOTO COURTESY: JONAS BRANE, VOLVO. and he also plans the driving the main track. The data it pro- tests. Mr. Melander has worked duces is especially useful for for 25 years in Hällered. He vis- braking and fuel consumption The Volvo Proving Ground in Hällered, Sweden. ited Vaisala in December 1997. tests. The QLC50 data is used Weather condition monitor- with noise measurements. Both ing is especially important to stations have sensors for wind eflecting the carmak- and slopes, comfort, corrosion, ensure the safety of test drivers. direction and speed, air tem- er’s own rigorous skipad and braking, and low Vaisala delivered a complete perature and relative humidity quality requirements, friction conditions. weather monitoring system, and ground temperature. In R Volvo’s model range In addition to the test tracks, including MILOS 500 and addition, the MILOS 500 sta- meets some of the highest safe- Hällered has facilities for in- QLC50 automatic weather station measures air pressure, solar ty standards in the world. The door testing and analysis. These tions, as well as an application radiation, precipitation and the company’s Proving Ground is include a measurement plat- specific YourVIEW graphical presence of rain. located in Hällered, 80 km form and associated measuring user interface and data collec- The MILOS 500 functions from the Volvo facilities in equipment for water leakage tion software. The new systems as a master station, collecting the Gothenburg, Sweden. About tests, a fueling test chamber, a were ordered through Live data from both test tracks and 180 people are employed here, heating chamber and salt- Data AB, Vaisala’s distributor forwarding it to the graphical equipping test vehicles, per- spray/climate chambers. in Sweden. user terminal. The YourVIEW forming test drives and labora- Hällered’s eleven tracks and Graphical User Interface soft- tory tests and evaluating the Weather monitoring computerized traffic control ware is used for displaying data results. systems support driving system have been built to en- separately from both sites on The site has eleven tracks for safety sure the optimum reliability of several PC terminals. In addi- testing various performance the test results and maximum tion, the data is also forwarded parameters, including high- As part of the Volvo Car Cor- driving safety. Using com- to Volvo’s PC network. speed response, durability, han- poration’s Test Department, puterized traffic control sys- The test drivers are booked dling, response on gravel roads the Volvo Proving Ground pro- tems, the traffic controllers are by the traffic controller, who

20 147/19 9 8 then supplies them with com- started working in Hällered in munication radios, ID badges 1994 and says that she enjoys and any relevant information her high-speed work. related to the test tracks and The support and mainte- current weather conditions. nance personnel are respon- This information helps im- sible for the maintenance of prove driving safety. “We chose trucks, buildings and all perma- Vaisala’s products for their nent equipment. They are also good quality and service. in charge of snow and ice con- Looking to the future, we are trol on the tracks. According to also interested in installing Sven-Erik Berggren and Asko Vaisala’s ice warning system on Koivupalo from the mainte- our high speed circuit,” ex- From the left: Dan Melander, traffic controller, and Minna nance team, they have to be plains Mr. Melander. prepared for all kinds of weath- Kuokkanen, test driver, in Hällered. er conditions. As they note, QLC50 data for noise this work is critically important level measurements for the test drives. enced test drivers. The test driv- a lesser extent, on public roads. The maintenance team’s Anders Sténhoff heads the ers are primarily involved with During the winter, test drives level of flexibility is extremely team that is in charge of truck durability and reliability tests, are also made in Norrland in high. They can create all the testing in the Volvo Truck as well as functional tests of northern Sweden, where the bumps, potholes and obstacles Division. Carl-Axel Carlsson is complete vehicles. The tests are weather conditions are extreme- required for each individual one of the eight test engineers conducted round the clock ly severe. test. Sprinklers can be installed, who works with noise and from Sunday evening to Friday Minna Kuokkanen is one of and tankers are available for acoustics measurements, con- evening – on the tracks and to the twelve female drivers. She dirt and skid tests. ■ on the Tracks

ducting various exterior and interior tests on Volvo trucks. “In one of these, a drive-by test, Carl-Axel Carlsson (left) and Anders Sténhoff are we have a microphone 7.5 working with noise and acoustic testing on Volvo trucks. meters away from the vehicle. When we drive around the track, the microphone measures the maximum noise level.” Vehicles generate various types of noise, including en- WAA151 WAV151 WAA151 WAV151 Anemometer Wind Vane Anemometer Wind Vane gine noise, wind, tire noise, WAC151 Cross Arm WAC151 YourVIEW Display software etc., and all these noise levels Cross Arm MILOS 500 window, QLC50 window HMP45D must be as low as possible. Humidity & HMP45D Temperature Server “The Proving Ground has Humidity & Probe Temperature inside special asphalt surfaces for exte- Probe DTR13 Data to Volvo Net rior noise measurements. The inside Radiation DTR13 Shield exterior noise level of the vehi- Radiation CM 3 Shield Solar Radiation DRD11A cle depends on factors such as Sensor Rain Detector the air and ground surface tem- MILOS 500 perature. We use Vaisala’s QLC50 Data Collection Data and Processing QLC50 data collector to meas- System inside Collector BOX 50S ure these parameters,” says Mr. WHP151 RG13 Equipment Power Supply Rain Gauge Sténhoff. and Enclosure pedestal RS-485 Expert team of test drivers, mechanics and RS-485 maintenance staff between QLC50 and MILOS 500 DTS12G Ground temp. sensor DTS12G The Hällered team comprises Ground temp. sensor some ten qualified mechanics and approximately 90 experi- The MILOS 500 and QLC50 AWS systems for the Volvo Proving Ground.

147/1998 21 Marit Finne Editor-in-Chief Vaisala News Vaisala Helsinki Finland

This station has a long history. Measurements were first made here as far back as 1904. The day Vaisala News visited, Mr. Korhonen explained the observations made at the station. As he reported, the Institute has been very satisfied with the reliable operation of the MILOS 500 equipment. During the installation stage, FIMR designed a special access and configured their own equipment to allow integration with the new data collection The R/V Aranda in the drifting marginal sea ice zone in the Weddell Sea. Vaisala’s radiosonde equipment and weather system. The observation data is station are used for marine meteorological research on board the Aranda. Photo courtesy: FINNARP/Jouko collected and saved in the Launiainen. memory, which has sufficient capacity for one year of measurement data (observations once every minute). The sea Two-thirds of the level measurements are accu- earth is covered by rate to within one millimeter. The measurement data is sent oceans, home to an MILOS 500 every hour via telephone lines abundance of life and to a computer at FIMR’s cen- many unique ecosys- tral office. The same real-time Data Collection data is also available to the pub- tems. In order to lic through a phone service. understand the sea, we The Finnish Institute of need information System Supports Marine Research also carries about it. In Finland, out advanced research on wave Marine Research action. Their high-level exper- this work is done by tise has many practical applica- the Finnish Institute tions. Water level research is of Marine Research. mainly used for improving The Institute uses safety at sea and supporting the he Finnish Institute FIMR upgrades its construction of waterways, har- Vaisala’s MILOS 500 of Marine Research water level stations bors and coastal buildings. data collection sys- (FIMR), located in tems to measure the T Helsinki, carries out In late 1994, FIMR began up- research in the fields of physi- grading its entire network of sea water level at their cal, biological and chemical water level stations with digital thirteen stations along oceanography. Its main area of equipment. All 13 water level the Finnish coast. interest is the Baltic Sea. stations were equipped with Vaisala’s MILOS 500-based data collection system by the From the left: end of 1997. The new measur- Osmo Korhonen, ing system is very flexible. In Hannu Vuori addition to water level data, other (both from FIMR) measurement parameters, includ- with Markku ing the surface temperature of Sinkkonen and the water, are easy to add. Hannu Kokko Mr. Osmo Korhonen, Head Osmo Korhonen (FIMR) describes (both from of the Field and Service Group the Vaisala MILOS 500 data Vaisala). at FIMR, was one of the key collection system used for water people behind the Institute’s level measurements at the Helsinki selection of Vaisala’s MILOS station. 500 equipment. The system was installed at the water level station in Helsinki in 1994.

22 147/19 9 8 Leif Granholm, M.Sc. Senior Consultant Tekla Oy Helsinki, Finland

Falling water level along the Finnish coast

As many sailors and boaters have noticed, the water level along the Finnish coast has fall- en during the past two years. The sea level was especially low in 1996, when the annual mean level for the year set a new record. In these conditions, shallow water can pose a safety threat for boaters. In the longer term, however, the water level of the Baltic Sea has been exceptionally high in the past few years, so the figures for 1996 did not have a major impact on the mean values. The higher than normal sea levels in the Baltic probably stem from changes in wind Vaisala’s wind monitoring system conditions on the Atlantic, and in front of the emergency exit in a especially in the strait of Den- Helsinki underground station. mark. Because the strait is very narrow, the water level can be up to 50 cm above or below the surface of the Baltic, depend- Wind data improves safety in underground stations: ing on the wind conditions.

Determining the theoretical mean water level A Vital Tool for Fire and The annual mean sea level is also one of FIMR’s research areas. The theoretical mean Rescue Operations water level is a defined forecast of the long-term mean water level value. Both the normal upheave of the earth and the slow rise in sea level are taken A fire or the release of ire fighting and res- into account in the calculation toxic gases in under- cue operations are a of this value, which has a num- difficult and danger- ber of practical applications. ground tunnel systems F ous challenge in tun- The theoretical mean water is a frightening scenario nels and underground metro level is not constant, but varies for all fire and rescue stations. Accurate measurements from year to year. of wind direction and speed can These water level values are services. In case of such play a key role in the safe out- necessary for planning and an event, the primary come of these efforts. To pro- constructing water channels concern is the safe evacu- vide this information, a consor- and harbors, for example. The ation of the people in tium of Finnish companies has theoretical mean water level is developed a system to track also utilized to determine the the tunnel. To make and monitor wind conditions. actual position of the coastline emergency management The Tekla Information System and the boundaries of Finnish easier, Helsinki City was installed in the under- territorial waters. Statistical ap- Transport has purchased ground stations in Helsinki, plications are another impor- Finland, in December 1997. tant use. ■ a new wind monitoring The system can also be used at system for its under- mines, chemical plants, har- ground stations. Vaisala bors and railway stations. The environmental monitor- environmental sensors ing system that Vaisala is sup- are a critical component plying for the new wind moni- of this system. tor contains sensors, as well as

147/1998 23 Leif Granholm, M.Sc. Senior Consultant Tekla Oy Helsinki, Finland

Falling water level along the Finnish coast

147/19 9 8 23 data collection and analysis sys- The project team from the left: tems for wind speed and direc- Pekka Hämäläinen (Tekla), tion, temperature, humidity Klaus Niskala (Helsinki City and pressure. The sensors, Transport) and Seppo Jussila roughly 10 per station, will be (Helsinki City Transport). installed at strategic locations – at train tunnel entry points, exit tunnels and outdoor monitoring points, for example. According to officials of the City of Helsinki Rescue Depart- ment, the integrated situation report produced by the system will also be a useful tool for simu- lations and emergency training.

Comprehensive system functions

Tekla’s Xenvi server, the central hub of the wind monitoring system, collects data from the various sensors, logs it in a data- of smoke exhaust fans and transmitted at regular intervals base if required and distributes optimize fire fighting efforts. from the MILOS 500 to the Tekla Information System it to various operator consoles. Temperature measurements Information System. consists of following main Located at dispatching centers, are crucial for assessing how a components: fire stations and emergency fire will spread, while humidity Tekla in brief entry points, the consoles fea- and pressure are used in facility Sensor Systems ture a geographical user inter- automation applications such Tekla Oy is a software supplier Wind speed, wind direction, face that presents all informa- as air ventilation. specializing in real-time geo- temperature and humidity by tion on a map or plan of the fa- Vaisala’s QLI50 sensor col- graphical information systems Vaisala. cility. lects wind and temperature (GIS) for the management of The requirements for user data. With the underground sta- community infrastructures, se- Gas detectors by Environics. interaction are quite different for tions acting as shelters, the curity and military operations. each location. At the dispatch- QLI50 minimizes the need for Products include a general plat- Operational Systems ing centers, for instance, the cabling and cabling ducts form, GISbase®, a command Smoke doors, blowers, gates, capability to monitor the over- through the walls. and control platform and verti- alarms controlled by all situation is very important. For data collection manage- cal applications. The Finnish MicroSCADA from ABB. In the immediate surroundings ment, a MILOS 500 Auto- Defense Forces have chosen of an emergency entry point, matic Weather Station has been Tekla’s CC platform for their Information System quick and easy assessment of integrated into the Tekla In- operative systems. ■ Xenvi server by Tekla Oy. the current conditions is essen- formation System. All data is tial. The Xenvi server also supports the integration of analysis Xenvi functions, including gas disper- STATION Xenvi CONTROLCONTROL CENTER CENTER Meteorological station sion models for chemical acci- Local Control Unit - gas, wind, air, etc ... ControlControl Unit Unit dents, into the Information 2424 h h/24 /24 H H usage usage System.

Tekla opts for Vaisala equipment

The choice of Vaisala’s environ- RS-232 RS-232 Surveillance mental monitoring system was Data units Sensor connection Program based on its high reliability in Surveillance Pogram critical applications. The Vaisala system comprises a WAA151 Wind sensors anemometer for wind speed Transaction manager real time, decentralization and a WAV151 vane for wind LAN direction, both of which will be Ethernet, RS-485 fiber mounted at train tunnel open- segm. ings and station exits. Wind Fire alarm data is a critical parameter in the Tekla Information System. Gas detector Central Database - sensors, statistics, Evacuation plans and the actu- - history, - background maps al evacuation operations, for Smoke alarm example, are based on this information, which is also needed to ensure the effectiveness The Tekla real-time system for wind, gas and fire control.

24 147/1998 AW11 Provides Olympic Weather Reporting Focus on research cooperation and improved observation networks

Vaisala installed an Sustainable AW11 weather observation system to provide real-time weather infor- Development mation during the recent winter Olympic games in Requires Greater Japan. The weather station was next to the ‘Finland House’, which Understanding of served as a recreation center for Finland’s Global Climate Olympic athletes and a The AW11 is a showcase for Finnish compact, ready-to-use industry. weather station. Systems

Over the past 18 years, the World Climate Research Programme has helped improve our eather conditions, the-clock, via telephone or including tem- the Internet. understanding of the global climate. The future W perature, humid- The AW11 is a new-genera- presents new challenges and a growing need for ity, wind and vis- tion integrated weather ibility, play a key role in the device designed to meet the more comprehensive observations even as fund- winter Olympics,” states weather reporting needs of ing becomes more limited. Sustainable develop- Rauno Sirola, President of small- and medium-sized air- ment, for example, will not be economically fea- Vaisala, Japan. “Our unofficial ports. Its built-in sensors and weather data was widely processing system measure sible without a thorough understanding of cli- used, and we hope it con- and analyze the key param- mate variations and anomalies. tributed to the success of the eters in aviation weather – recent winter games in cloud layer height and Nagano.” coverage, visibility, pressure, Since there is no airport winds, temperature, dew point n August 1997, 300 achievements and future chal- close to Hakuba/Nagano, and precipitation. This cost- members of the cli- lenges of the program, and the both the local helicopter effective system provides mate research and findings were recommended shuttle service and the news continual access to impor- I policy communities for consideration by the World media relied on the AW11 tant weather information and attended the International Con- Meteorological Organization reports to determine the helps ensure flight safety. ■ ference of the World Climate (WMO), the International safety of flying conditions. Research Programme (WCRP) Council of Scientific Unions The weather station pro- in Geneva, Switzerland. The (ICSU), the Intergovernmental vided information round- conference took stock of the Oceanographic Commission

147/19 9 8 25 One of the most notable tri- This work must be comple- umphs is our capability to pre- mented by the systematic ob- dict climate anomalies related servation of all key climate vari- to El Niño – the Southern ables. All the nations involved Oscillation (ENSO) phenom- in climate research activities enon – several seasons in ad- must be prepared to invest in vance. These predictions have these observations. applications in everyday life: in early response to drought, water Growing need resource management, agricul- for climate data ture and public health. ENSO research has benefitted both Progress in climate science, developing and developed coun- applications and services de- tries on both sides of the Pa- pends on the timely availability mate system are critical, and (IOC) of UNESCO, and cific Ocean. of global and specialized obser- they noted with concern the through them, the national WCRP studies of atmos- vations. The operational weath- decline in conventional obser- governments of all the coun- pheric, hydrological and ocean- er observation systems that are vation networks in some re- tries of the world. ic conditions have led to a bet- integrated in the WMO World gions. This is a serious threat to Concern about insufficient ter understanding of important Weather Watch (WWW), how- continuing progress in climate funding and research needs was climate system processes. This ever, are under serious threat in research. Without action to also voiced at the conference. knowledge is reflected in im- several regions of the world. reverse this decline and devel- The human influence on the proved modelling of the cou- The maintenance and improve- op the Global Climate Obser- environment has accelerated pled physical climate system: ment of these networks are of vation System, the ability to changes in the global climate, atmosphere, oceans, land and critical importance. characterize climate change prompting a greater need for cryosphere. With better mod- Other operational and quasi- and variations will deteriorate climate observations and obser- els, the prediction of natural operational climate-related ob- dramatically. vation networks. At the same climate variations is now more servational systems are or may In drought-prone parts of time, however, several coun- accurate and reliable. also become threatened by a Africa, for example, climate tries are reducing their funding Systematic observations have lack of funding. change detection and predic- for climate research. been made of the oceans’ three- To enable seasonal and tion could become impossible. dimensional structure, and this longer-term predictions as well In the long run, this would Detailed studies of has yielded new knowledge as the detection of climate undermine resource manage- climate changes and about ocean circulation and change, further development ment in these countries and variations behavior. Data about ocean cur- of an operational ocean observ- their ability to adopt sustain- rents and changes in sea level is ing system is crucial. Existing able development. The WCRP was established in essential for understanding cli- research-specific observational In the view of the WCRP, it 1979 as the research branch of mate change and managing networks should be expanded is critically important for the the international, interdiscipli- ocean and coastal resources. and incorporated into routine nations of the world to intensi- nary and interagency World global climate observations. fy their commitment to co- Climate Programme. The pur- Future research goals Special attention must also operative international research pose of the WCRP is to study be paid to those areas of the and its associated global obser- the behavior of the global cli- During the next decade, the globe where the level of moni- vation, research and service mate system, and thus improve overall research priorities of the toring is currently very low or programs. Arrangements should the understanding and predic- WCRP are as follows: non-existent. These areas in- be made to ensure funding and tion of climate changes and clude the equatorial regions support for the essential obser- variations. • To assess the nature and and much of the southern hemi- vation networks of the Global A better understanding of predictability of seasonal sphere, for example. The lack Climate Observing System global climate mechanisms will to interdecadal variations of observation capacity in (GCOS) and its oceanographic help promote sustainable de- in the climate system glob- many countries is a major con- and terrestrial counterparts. ■ velopment. It will also make an ally and regionally; to pro- cern and an obstacle to pro- invaluable contribution to pre- vide a scientific basis for gress. dicting and managing weather predicting these phenom- Climate data should be extremes such as flood and ena, utilizing this informa- archived in electronic form, so drought and the threat of hu- tion in climate services and it can be fully exploited in cli- man-induced climate change. through them, promoting mate analysis and modelling. sustainable development. Support for electronic archiv- Wide-ranging • To detect climate change ing as well as other data man- achievements and its causes, and project agement and information sys- the magnitude and rate of tems is inadequate. Since every- During its 18-year history, the human-induced climate one should have access to the WCRP has contributed to cli- change, regional variations, data, distribution and quality mate research on many levels, and related sea level rises. control are other issues that first of all by encouraging the need to be addressed. commitment of nations to The research required to reach research on critical climate these two targets is closely inter- Priority on funding for issues. On a smaller scale, the connected. Particular effort observation networks WCRP has been involved in should be made to develop many research projects that cooperation between research The participants in the WCRP have improved our understand- projects and government conference agreed that compre- ing of climate phenomena. bodies. hensive observations of the cli-

26 147/1998 Marit Finne Editor-in-Chief Vaisala News Vaisala Helsinki Finland

The 78th Annual Meeting of the AMS was held in January 1998 in Phoenix, Arizona. The 78th annual meeting of meteorologists empha- sized the gradual, but steady progress that has been made in our understanding and prediction of meteorological and climatological phenomena. For Dr. Ronald McPherson, the meeting was his last as President of the American Meteorological Society. Dr. Eugene Rasmusson will carry on his work, focusing on climate change in the Americas at next year’s meeting.

Theme of the 78th Annual AMS Meeting and Exhibition: “Maturing Our Predictive Capability”

During the meeting, he 78th Annual Meet- research scientist in the Depart- Dr. Ronald D. McPherson ing of the American ment of Meteorology at the (right) performed his last Meteorological University of Maryland in duties as President of AMS T Society (AMS) was College Park since 1986. before passing the mantle to held from 11–16 January 1998 The theme of the Annual Dr. Eugene M. Rasmusson. in Phoenix, Arizona. Eighteen Meeting focused on the consid- conferences and symposia were erable maturation in the predic- held as part of this Annual tive capability of the meteorol- Meeting. ogy profession. Dr. McPherson says, “I chose this theme be- Meteorology cause progress in the fields rep- plays a greater resented by the AMS is almost role in everyday life always incremental and can go almost unnoticed.” During the meeting, Dr. Ronald According to Dr. McPherson, D. McPherson performed his more people than ever are bas- last duties as President of AMS ing their day-to-day decisions before passing the mantle to on weather forecasts. As a re- Dr. Eugene M. Rasmusson. Dr. sult, he explains, weather fore- McPherson is director of the casting will become more of a National Centers for Environ- driving force in our lives in the mental Prediction, NOAA, in future, “Most of the growth in Camp Springs, Maryland. Dr. employment will be in the Rasmusson has been a senior applications of forecasting ra-

147/19 9 8 27 ther than forecasting itself. In the future, students will be expected to be competent in meteorology, but also in whatever their employer’s main interest might be.” He urged students to adhere to sound science in the pursuit of their profession, to be responsible for carrying out high-quality service, and to maintain high ethical standards. Vaisala’s exhibition stand showcased a number of new product development advances. 1999 theme focuses on the Americas The next 79th Annual Meeting AMS Exhibition in Phoenix will be held in Dallas, Texas. The new AMS President, Dr. Rasmusson, has established More than 130 companies displayed the latest hardware, systems and software in the fields of ‘Climate and Global Change meteorology, oceanography and hydrology at the AMS Exhibition. There were more than 300 with a Focus on the Americas’ stands at the event, and about 3,500 conference visitors (including exhibitors) from 37 countries as the theme of the meeting. were registered. The leaders of many current Vaisala’s eye-catching 40-foot exhibition stand showcased a number of new product develop- national and international pro- ment advances. The upper air equipment on display included GPS radiosondes for accurate, grams dealing with issues of cli- high-resolution wind measurements; the AUTOSONDE, which fully automates radiosonde mate and global change and observations; and the compact MW15 DigiCORA II radiosounding set. In addition, the RD93 their impact on the Americas GPS Dropsonde for accurate aircraft deployed soundings was also exhibited. have already agreed to present Surface weather equipment included the CT25 laser ceilometer, the new standard for cloud their findings at this meeting. height measurement; QLC50 and MILOS 500 weather stations configured with new WIND30 Observations and the future and 20 Displays; and a full line of sensors for accurate and reliable surface weather observations. strengthening of the bridge Vaisala also exhibited meteorological airport observation systems. The AW11 aviation reporter, between scientific research and a ready-to-use system for small airports, contains all the sensors and features of a complete applications to meet societal AWOS (Automated Weather Observing System) in one integrated package, as well as a new needs will be another impor- Thunderstorm Sensor. tant aspect of the meeting. Vaisala’s personnel gave three presentations at the 78th AMS Meeting. These included ‘On the “We plan to continue Dr. Global Windfinding Accuracy of Terrestrial Navaids’ by Juhana Jaatinen, ‘GPS – the Global McPherson’s 1998 theme in the Windfinding Method’ by Timo Saarnimo, and ‘AUTOSONDE – Outstanding Reliability in context of seasonal to interan- Performance Tests’ by Ken Goss. nual climate prediction. The centerpiece of this aspect of the annual meeting will be the Second Hayes Symposium on Seasonal to Interannual Pre- diction. This symposium will include a retrospective look at the 1997–1998 El Niño Warm Episode. Finally, I should men- tion the special symposium being planned for the annual meeting to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE),” says Dr. Rasmusson. ■

28 147/1998 Jonathan Lister, M.Sc. (Met.) Managing Director Vaisala Birmingham UK

Vaisala’s Global ICE Activities Thanks to the continuing support from our customers, the 1997/98 winter season was yet another record year for the Vaisala ICE team.

ooking back on the ant with the new millennium: past winter, the Vai- sala ICE team had a Product Version L busy season. Brief ROSA All highlights include: IceCast 4.4 and above • A new world record IceView 1.3 and above Thermal Mapping contract IceMan All – the 7,500 km contract in Belgium beats last year’s Some attention should be paid 7,000 km record in to details such as the PC BIOS Northern Ireland. and the version of operating system in use – Windows 95 or • Breakthrough ‘auto-sug- SCO UNIX version 5 is rec- gest’ feature for IceMan ommended. helps reduce operator Vaisala ICE recognizes the workloads. vital importance of providing • First installation of pave- dependable high quality prod- ment condition sensors in ucts. With this in mind, we have an FAA AWOS system appointed a dedicated ICE Quality Manager to help focus • Support for Russian, our efforts on continual im- Spanish and other charac- provements over and above the ter sets in IceView. basic ISO 9000 level. Installation, training and cus- For further details, see the relat- tomer support services have al- ed articles in this issue of ways been among our highest Vaisala News. priorities. To provide more cus- In response to our customer support direct from tomers’ many inquiries about Birmingham, we have recently the Year 2000 effect, we can con- carried out some restructuring firm that the following prod- and added four additional tech- ucts/versions are fully compli- nical personnel to our team. ■

147/19 9 8 29 Vaisala and the Flemish Ministry of Transport in Belgium NewNew PredictivePredictive signed a major winter maintenance contract in 1997. When the RoadRoad ConditionCondition project is completed in 1999, it will consid- MonitoringMonitoring erably enhance the level of automation of winter maintenance forfor FlandersFlanders systems in Flanders, which is one of the hubs in the European road network.

A project meeting in Brussels in February 1998. Standing from the left: Dirk Paps (Abay), Christophe Devaddere (Abay), Bob Patterson (Vaisala), Andy McDonald (Vaisala). Seated from the left: Etienne Deglume (Meteo Wing), Ronny Claes (Abay), Jean-Pierre Vijverman (Flemish Ministry of Trans- port), and Tom Roelants (Flem- ish Ministry of Transport).

30 147/19 9 8 Marit Finne Editor-in-Chief Vaisala News Vaisala Helsinki Finland

n 1996, the Flemish tem in Flanders. Why was Advanced show IceCast data on screen. It Ministry of Trans- Vaisala equipment selected? It cost-effective will be connected to the Inter- port invited several was able to provide a complete package net system of the Department I companies to tender package that fully complied of Environment and Infra- for the winter maintenance sys- with all our requirements. A Vaisala will thermal map and structure. The aim of the proj- tem in Flanders, the northern competitive price and high route optimize 7,500 km of roads ect is to determine the added Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. quality were two more factors in Flanders. During the winter, value to the organization of the Close to the Netherlands, in the decision. I have had a lot road surface temperatures fluc- information flow via the Inter- France, Great Britain and Ger- of contact with Vaisala experts tuate above and below zero net, particularly to the profes- many, the region is a crossroads in the past, and I am convinced (marginal conditions) during sionals of the Winter Main- in the European traffic net- that Vaisala is one of the top the night. Vaisala sensors, which tenance Division. We will also work. After a careful evaluation specialists in the field,” Mr. are embedded in the road sur- study how we could distribute of the options, Vaisala was Vijverman explains. face, will provide real-time in- information to external parties, awarded a major contract for The winter maintenance proj- formation on road conditions. including the public, police, the winter maintenance system. ect in Flanders covers three Road Optimization is expect- local communities, etc.” The Vaisala Birmingham main stages: (1) the implemen- ed to reduce the number of salt- The second project is the Office has worked very closely tation and completion of the ing routes, enabling local road installation of GPS (Global with local agent Abay TS on basic system by 1999, (2) Route maintainers to utilize their re- Positioning System) on a salt- the implementation of the new Optimization and (3) three sepa- sources more effectively. “The ing truck. A study will be con- winter maintenance system in rate pilot projects. Work on the Route Optimization process ducted on how to automatical- Belgium. basic system began in involves two separate parts. In ly control salting vehicles and Mr. Jean-Pierre Vijverman December 1997 and includes the first, the existing routes are salt spreading and track the and Mr. Tom Roelants are the 7,500 km of thermal mapping, optimized without major position and status of the vehi- key project team leaders. Mr. the installation of 40 ROSA changes in the actual winter cles on the roads. The aim of Vijverman is an engineer in the road weather stations, the maintenance organization. In this project is to use salt only if Division of Electricity and installation of an IceCast sys- other words, the changes in the needed. Mechanics, which is part of the tem and software at 40 termi- district boundaries, personnel The third project includes the Division of Environment and nals in the district, and the or equipment will not be too installation of Vaisala’s IceMan Infrastructure under the Flem- installation of a weather fore- drastic. The second stage of the system. The IceMan was design- ish Ministry of Transport. Mr. casting system at the Meteo process is more far-reaching ed to make winter maintenance Vijverman is responsible for Wing, the local forecasting and includes test results from management easier and more coordinating the winter main- office. Captain Etienne De- research studies. It will provide efficient for the road masters. tenance project within his orga- glume is project representative basic information on how to The IceMan is a semi-automat- nization. In general, his main of the Meteo Wing, which reorganize the Winter Main- ed decision aid and monitoring tasks are related to telecommu- operates under the Belgian Air tenance Division in the most system consisting of one cen- nications and networking of Forces. economical and efficient way tral database of all winter main- traffic systems. Mr. Roelants, When completed by the end in order to provide optimal ser- tenance related data. This sys- head of the Winter Mainte- of 1999, the basic system will vice for road users in Flanders.” tem enables decisions to be nance Division within the De- provide continuous informa- made using the best available partment of Roads Policy and tion on local road conditions Pilot projects to information. “Our objective is Management, represents the and help the Meteo Wing begin in Kortrijk to set up a tool we can use to end-user of the winter mainte- make more accurate weather manage and control all deci- nance system. He is respon- forecasts. This way, the person- The recent contract also in- sions, as well as automating sible for making winter mainte- nel responsible for road main- cludes three separate pilot proj- administrative work, including nance decisions related to vehi- tenance will be able to respond ects. “The aim of these projects the generation of overviews, in- cles use, road salting, contracts, quickly and provide better ser- is to examine the opportunities voicing and so on.” etc. vice for road users. “It will also for using modern winter main- In the end, says Mr. Vijver- reduce maintenance and road tenance technology to develop man, “We have all the re- Major winter salting costs, and minimize the our organization. We will begin sources we need to succeed, maintenance risk of environmental pollu- these projects in the district of including good products, effi- system contract tion. In the future, it will be Kortrijk. After positive evalu- cient project management and easier to decide whether or not ations, they will be carried out expert specialists who can carry Mr. Vijverman’s initial contact to salt. In our view, Thermal in other districts,” says Mr. out this demanding project in with Vaisala and its representa- Mapping will be a useful tool, Vijverman. the optimal environment and tive Abay TS was in 1996. “We one that will help road main- “The first project includes a achieve the desired results from needed a cost-effective and mod- tainers make the correct deci- pilot project for the creation of their Winter Maintenance ern winter maintenance sys- sions.” our Internet home page to Organization.” ■

147/1998 31 Finland’s winter traffic is dependent on the success of winter maintenance. Modern society is built on tim- ing, and delays in the transport of goods and people can cause major problems. Winter road management in southern Finland is directed by the Traffic Manage- ment Centre, which operates under the Finnish National Road Administration (Finnra). More than 250 Vaisala weather stations throughout Finland are networked with Finnra’s road weather monitoring system.

Snow clearing and the prevention of slippery conditions are the main tasks of winter maintenance.

Round-the-clock service from Finland’s Traffic Management Centre

inland has been Management Centre in Helsin- Traffic Management Centre, divided into nine ki. Mr. Dunkel is responsible where she has worked for three regions, each with for maintaining and develop- years. According to Ms. F its own road mainte- ing the road weather systems in Ahonen, her job is very inter- nance organization. The Traffic the Uusimaa region. He coop- esting and rewarding because Management Centre, employ- erates closely with the Finnish of the rapid development of ing some twenty people, covers Meteorological Institute and new technology and systems in southern Finland (Uusimaa Vaisala. According to Mr. the field. region). Dunkel, who has worked in the The Traffic Management office since 1987, the systems Centre and Vaisala have devel- Priority on and international collaboration oped road weather monitoring Marit Finne traffic safety with other organizations have systems in close cooperation to Editor-in-Chief seen substantial development meet wide-ranging needs. Mr. Vaisala News Georg Dunkel and Mari in the past ten years. Dunkel and Ms. Ahonen have Vaisala Helsinki Ahonen work in the modern Mari Ahonen is in charge of generally been satisfied with Finland new facilities of the Traffic functional development of the Vaisala’s systems.

32 147/19 9 8 The personnel of the Traffic Management Centre. From the left (standing) Pentti Turunen, Georg Dunkel, Pekka Ahonen, Jussi Borgenström; (seated) Mari Ahonen and Irmeli Jernström.

to be the first link in the chain enable immediate detection of when it comes to winter main- problematic weather changes. tenance operations. The role of This helps with the observation the Road Weather Centre is of unexpected changes in road especially important in fore- conditions caused by lakes and casting icy conditions on the other factors. roads in southern Finland. The ROSA-type Vaisala road Thanks to these early forecasts, weather stations in the network the roads can often be salted have sensors for measuring both before ice forms.” air and road surface temperature and air humidity. Some The road weather stations also have wind an- monitoring system emometer and visibility sensors. Finnra’s road weather sys- Finnra’s road weather monitor- tem also includes about 80 ing system is used at the Traffic monitoring camera stations Management Centre. The sys- along roads. The ROSA system New organization and tem sends actual and forecasted analyzes and sends road surface modern technology weather and road surface infor- data to the Traffic Management mation to the responsible road Centre. The Traffic Management Centre and motorists. It is then con- maintenance staff. The road About 35 per cent of travel has three specific units: (1) veyed to motorists via radio weather observation network in Finland occurs in winter General Traffic Information, and TV, for instance.” provides information about conditions. The development (2) Traffic Monitoring and “Traffic Monitoring and weather and surface conditions of road weather monitoring Control, and (3) Road Weather Control in the area of southern on all the main roads in systems has improved winter Monitoring and Alarm Service Finland plays an important role Finland. Radar and satellite driving safety. Snow clearing for road maintenance. All three at the Traffic Management pictures are received at preset and the prevention of slippery are located in the same facilities Centre, where we monitor traf- times from the Finnish Me- conditions are the main tasks in Helsinki. The main objec- fic flow using detectors and teorological Institute. of winter maintenance, which tives of the Traffic Manage- cameras. We also receive valu- The total length of Finland’s accounts for 66 per cent of ment Centre are to improve able information from road public road network is 77,800 total road maintenance costs. traffic flow and safety on the users, the police and rescue ser- km. Construction of the weath- In southern Finland, salting is roads, and promote efficient vices and municipalities,” er station network began in the most widely-used method use of the road network. Other explains Mari Ahonen. 1986. The cooperation between to combat slippery conditions. goals are to reduce environ- If traffic incidents occur, the the Traffic Management Centre The trend is to reduce salt usage mental hazards caused by traf- Traffic Monitoring and Con- and Vaisala also dates from this because of its adverse environ- fic and provide comfortable trol Unit tries to minimize the time. Today, the main road net- mental effects, and to replace driving conditions on Finland’s effect by informing the relevant work comprises more than 250 salting with other methods. roads. authorities. It can take any nec- Vaisala road weather stations Today, environmental issues are Finland’s Traffic Informa- essary control action, as well as throughout the country. given high priority, both in tion Centre provides real-time providing real-time informa- The locations of Vaisala’s road traffic planning and road main- nation-wide information for tion for motorists. “By using weather station are determined tenance. ■ road users on road weather con- variable message signs on the using thermal mapping to ditions, traffic accidents, traffic roads, we can warn road users congestion, ferry schedules, about congested road sections roadwork and any public events or slippery road surfaces. With that might affect traffic flow. variable message signs, it is pos- The Traffic “We also pass on road weath- sible to change speed limits to Management er forecasts and traffic informa- suit road weather and traffic Centre has tion to motorists. Our person- conditions.” modern facilities nel at the Road Users’ Phone The Road Weather Alarm in Helsinki. Service are on call to answer Service provides a round-the- motorists’ questions and col- clock hot line service. It moni- lect their feedback 24 hours a tors changes in the weather and day,” explains Georg Dunkel. road weather conditions 24 “We obtain our information hours a day and informs the from regional traffic manage- road maintenance units when ment centres, automatic traffic they are needed. monitoring sites, the police, “Our modern monitoring regional road weather centres, systems make it possible for us

147/1998 33 Traffic on the Moscow Circle Road.

he growing traffic on This governmental agency de- Automatic monitoring on Russian roads is velops and applies modern placing greater de- technology to road mainte- T mands on road nance, using highly effective the Moscow Circle Road maintenance. This applies to equipment for this purpose. main roads and city streets, as well as Moscow’s circle road. Defining the The government of Moscow system requirements is focusing special attention on Ice Warning the development of the city’s In 1995, the Moscow Centre road network. The improve- for Hydrometeorology and En- ment of the ten-lane circle road vironmental Monitoring pro- System around Moscow is now in its posed the installation of a final phase. As one of the city’s meteorological monitoring sys- main roads and the bypass for tem with ice warning on traffic around Moscow, the cir- Moscow’s circle road. This sug- Improves cle road is particularly impor- gestion was based on the tant. research of Russian specialists The responsibility for main- and the experiences of several tenance of Moscow’s roads and European countries and the Traffic Safety streets lies with ‘Dorinvest’. USA in the use of analog sys-

From the left: Mr. David Frid, Ms. Ulla Laanti, Mr. Konstantin Radetski and Mr. Taisto Haavasoja at Vaisala Helsinki. The repairs underway on Moscow’s ten-lane circle road are providing an excellent opportunity to install road weather stations and an ice warning system. Aimed at improving traffic safety, this project is already in its second phase. Completion of the final installations is expected in June–July 1998.

34 147/19 9 8 Mr. Andrei Simkin (left) and Mr. Ilkka Haapamäki (Vaisala) install weather observation equipment in Moscow.

Authors: Konstantin Radetski, M.Sc. (Tech.) Chief Engineer of Moscow Centre for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring Moscow, Russia and David Frid, M.Sc. (Tech.) General Director Best Ltd. Moscow, Russia

tems. These meteorological sys- weather stations. The photos ditions. The message on the three road weather stations, six tems were used to improve traf- showed that there are consider- signs changes according to the slave stations and four remote fic safety and the allocation of able thermal anomalies in the ambient conditions; warnings workstations, is in the imple- road maintenance resources. Moscow area caused by indus- of slippery roads, for instance, mentation phase. The stations The following tasks were trial complexes, thermal sta- can be given. and sensors have been install- specified for the new automat- tions and leakage from under- ed, and work is underway on ed system: ground water pipes, for exam- Second phase underway the communication links be- ple. The study also revealed cli- tween the road weather stations • Regular monitoring of matological anomalies along The current project was initiat- and central station. meteorological conditions the 109-kilometer circle road. ed by the Moscow Hydro- Equipment for the third along the circle road Each meteorological station meteorology Center. The com- phase has already been deliv- is based on a ROSA/DM31 pany Best Ltd. Foreign Trade ered to Russia. Installation is • Production of signals for main road weather station and Organization “Mashinoimport” scheduled to begin in June–July parameters describing traf- two DM31R slave stations con- organized a tender, which Vai- 1998. fic conditions nected to the main station. The sala won. Cooperation with the spe- • Production of forecasts (2- system includes a total of seven Scheduled for completion cialists from the Moscow hour and up to 24 hours) main stations, and each slave by August 1998, the project was Hydrometeorology Centre and of meteorological condi- station has four road sensors. planned in three phases corre- Best Ltd. has been very smooth tions and road surface The sensors indicate the road sponding to the progress with throughout every phase of the parameters surface status on four lanes in the road repairs and reconstruc- project. The Vaisala representa- fourteen sections of the road. tion. tives have included Ulla Laanti, • Information reports for Measurement data is for- The first phase of the project Taisto Haavasoja, Leena Puhakka, traffic safety (GAI and warded automatically from the consisted of one road weather Ilkka Haapamäki, and Steve automobile inspection) road weather station via a tele- station (kilometer 21 of the cir- Howe. Sergei Grishkin and and road maintenance phone line to a central station cle road), a central computer and Boris Artemjev have represent- (Dorinvest) personnel, as computer located in the two workstations. This phase was ed Dorinvest. ■ well as drivers in danger- Dorinvest office. The central completed in July 1997. The ous road conditions station computer runs special second phase, including the software for data display and display of alarms. Optional Comprehensive From the left: monitoring system software compiles 24-hour ice formation forecasts. The fore- Mr. Sergei Grishkin The structure of the new cen- cast software requires synopti- and Mr. Boris tralized system for collecting cal data from the local weather Artemjev from and processing data from the service. Dorinvest in automatic road weather sta- Data from the central station Moscow. tions on the circle road was is transmitted to eight worksta- drawn up based on these tions (computer terminals) at requirements. the Dorinvest premises and Thermal aerial photos were traffic control points. used to determine the opti- Traffic signs inform drivers mum locations for the road of dangerous road weather con-

147/1998 35 After deciding to invest in road traffic safety, the Latvian Road Administration began upgrading its road weather monitoring system in 1996. Vaisala installed the first six road weather stations, and this contract soon led to two others. By early 1999, Latvian roads will be monitored by a total of thirty weather stations.

The road weather station installed in Melturi, Latvia.

Ainars Morozs Latvia Expands Head of the Traffic Management Division Latvian Road Administration Its Road Weather Riga, Latvia Information System

he Traffic Manage- From one ment Division of the contract to three Latvian Road Admin- T istration is respon- After an international tender, sible for planning road safety Vaisala won the contract to improvement programs and deliver and install an RWIS in identifying traffic safety activi- Latvia in 1996. The Latvian ties. The introduction of a road Road Administration signed an weather information system in agreement for the installation Latvia is one of its specific of six weather stations and the responsibilities. delivery of data processing soft- During the preparations for a ware and personnel training. European Bank Loan Project in The six installed weather sta- the summer of 1994, the tions have performed well. Latvian Road Administration With just a few exceptions, Mr. Georg Dunkel (right) describes the road network to Mr. Ainars initiated a project to imple- information on road weather Morozs at Finland’s Traffic Management Centre in Helsinki. ment advanced winter mainte- conditions has been received nance technology in coopera- on a regular basis. Based on tion with the Finnish National Vaisala’s high-quality guarantee Road Association. This project and post-guarantee service and included the implementation their assistance with mainte- of a Road Weather Information nance and repairs, two addi- System (RWIS). tional contracts for the delivery

36 147/19 9 8 Ice and Fog Warning and installation of road weather stations were signed in the summer of 1997. Systems in Australia The first contract covers the installation of eight more stations, and the second, the installation of an additional six- teen stations during 1998. Once these stations are installed, Latvia will have thirty road weather stations on its main roads, plus one central computer and five workstations. Data from the weather stations is transmitted to the central unit via GSM phones.

Focus on greater efficiency

The road weather information system opens up a wide scope of possibilities. The lack of practical experience in the field, however, has limited the effectiveness of the system. The Latvian Road Administration has A Vaisala road weather station warns motorists about icy conditions on the Great Western Highway. signed agreements with regional stock companies, which are responsible for road winter Vaisala Melbourne and t the trial site, the at driver eye level. The system maintenance. This will enable Great Western High- is sited at Cox’s River, which more efficient snow removal and the New South Wales way is a sweeping forms a deep river valley. A salt spreading on the roads. ■ Road Traffic Authority A bend cut into the side creek at the bottom of the val- (RTA) have installed ice of Mt. Lambie, which tends to ley passes under a concrete and fog warning sys- shade the road for most of the road bridge and flows into a day. The ice warning system in- holding basin for a coal-fired tems on the Great cludes road surface tempera- power station. When the fog On 1 June 1997 the Latvian Western Highway near ture, humidity and rainfall sen- warning measures visibility Road Administration was Lithgow, approximately sors that closely monitor the lower than a user preset visibil- transformed from a state insti- road surface conditions. When ity value, remote warning signs 200 km west of Sydney. weather conditions deteriorate connected via a VLF radio link tution to a non-profit state The trial systems will be joint stock company. This tran- and ice is likely to form on the are automatically activated, sition was made according to used to improve safety road surface, the system acti- alerting motorists to the deterio- for motorists during vates a local warning sign. A ration in driving conditions. the government’s policy to VLF radio link is then used to Simultaneously, the system reduce the number of civil ser- severe weather condi- activate warning signs that noti- activates a set of amber over- vants and reorganize govern- tions, especially when fy oncoming traffic on both head street lights to increase ment functions on a more roads are icy. sides of the mountain of the the drivers’ visual range. Once commercial basis. potentially dangerous condi- conditions improve, the warn- The Road Administration’s tions ahead. Once conditions ing signs and overhead lights structure is divided into five improve, the warning signs are are automatically deactivated. areas: technical, production, automatically deactivated. The The system automatically re- maintenance, financial and system automatically records cords all measured data. administrative. Each has strict- all measured data for later The RTA will monitor driver analysis. A local display in the reaction to the systems as part ly specified functions and roadside cabinet alerts mainte- of a continuing system evalu- fields of operation. The com- nance crews to faults in the ation process. It will also inves- pany operates under the warning signs. The system is tigate ways of minimizing road Ministry of Transport. dynamic, providing motorists closures caused by ice and The main objective of the with current information. It is snow. Part of the investigation Latvian Road Administration considered more effective than process requires the RTA to is to implement the policy of Robert Ireland static road signs. develop a communication plan the Republic of Latvia in the Systems Engineer A warning system has also for quickly advising the com- Vaisala Melbourne been installed to notify motor- munity via the media of chang- road maintenance sector. The ■ Traffic Management Division Australia ists when fog has been detected ing road conditions. is part of the technical section.

147/1998 37 Marit Finne Editor-in-Chief Vaisala News Vaisala Helsinki Finland

aisala’s ice monitoring system was installed at the Birmingham V International Air- port in 1997–1998. The new equipment includes two ROSA weather stations, each equipped with two runway sensors, as well as air temperature and humidity sensors. In addition, one site has an FD12P visibility meter and wind sensors. The The Birmingham International Airport is the fifth largest airport in the UK. software installation consists of the Vaisala IceCast system, which is networked into the Birmingham Airport’s internal PC network. Thermal Mapping was carried out in 1996. Peter Patrickson is the Air- Safety is the key word in winter maintenance field Operations Manager at the Birmingham International Air- port. He and Airfield Main- tenance Manager Hugh Dawson New Ice Prediction were responsible for choosing the new ice prediction system. As the airport’s initial experi- System for the ences have shown, the system offers many benefits.

Another record Birmingham Airport year in 1997 Last year, a record-breaking 6 million passengers used the Winter 1996 saw the installation of a comprehensive Birmingham International Air- Vaisala Thermal Mapping system at the Birmingham port, which is the fifth largest in the UK. According to recent International Airport, the UK’s fifth largest airport. This forecasts, the airport’s annual was followed in September 1997 by the installation of an passenger traffic will increase IceCast system to monitor ice conditions on the airport’s from 6 million passengers to around 9.5 million by 2005. two runways. “Our initial experiences this past winter have Peter Patrickson has worked been encouraging. The new system has proved its effective- at the Birmingham Interna- ness,” says Peter Patrickson, Airfield Operations Manager. tional Airport for seven years. Among other things, he and his team are responsible for maintaining the operational safety of runways and taxiways during winter operations. “Our winter weather is changeable, and this presents a challenge for us. We have to do our utmost to maintain safe operations in all weather conditions.” Mr. Patrickson heads the Movement Area Safety Unit, which is part of the Airport Operations Division. Unit per-

38 147/19 9 8 The Vaisala ice prediction equipment at the Birmingham International Airport.

sonnel include five duty man- with the commitment to pro- agers (working 24-hour shifts), vide the most effective and 24 safety officers and three technologically advanced op- sweeper drivers. They are re- erational management systems. sponsible for ensuring the over- These systems must also enable all safety of airfield operations, the airport to mitigate the envi- by conducting runway safety ronmental impact of their op- inspections, for example, and erations while maintaining the carrying out bird control to highest level of safety. minimize bird hazards. “Our key responsibility is runway Airport weather safety,” he says. observation system Safety comes first Mr. Patrickson explains how they selected their new system, Commenting on the increase “We were attracted by Vaisala’s in passengers last year, Mr. system for many reasons. For a Patrickson says, “This repre- long time, we have needed sents a growth of about 10 per some kind of ice prediction sys- cent on the previous year. As tem on the airfield. Previously we are clearly getting busier, it we relied on the usual meteoro- is important that we continual- logical weather forecasts, and it to keep runways and taxiways so it allows precise measure- ly maintain and enhance our had become very important for free from ice. Snowfalls are first ment of surface temperature at safety operations and systems us to have a system that pro- plowed, and potassium acetate the target point. “We could see at the airport. The right deci- vides specific information about de-icing fluid is then spread that a Vaisala DRS50 sensor sions require reliable and accu- the airfield’s conditions and when needed. There are prob- would need a lot less mainte- rate information. As our experi- state. We also wanted a system lems, however, with spreading nance on runways.” ences have shown, Vaisala’s ice that could forecast how the con- potassium acetate. It is difficult The Birmingham Airport’s prediction system plays a key ditions would develop over the to assess when and how much equipment includes Vaisala role here. Safety is the number next several hours. After com- to use, so when new technol- IceCast software, which is net- one issue, followed by the effi- paring a number of alterna- ogy for this purpose emerged, worked into the airport’s inter- ciency and availability of our tives, we decided that the the airport authority decided to nal PC network. It is mainly airfield operations. It is quite a Vaisala system offered, off the purchase a new ice prediction used by the Duty Managers. challenge for us to achieve all shelf, the range of systems and system. “We can bring up data on our of these objectives.” information we were looking Today Vaisala’s IceCast equip- individual PCs. We have a pre- According to Mr. Patrickson, for. It was also very competitive.” ment is part of a complete run- diction system linked to the they have recognized that these The Birmingham Airport had way monitoring system at the local Meteorological Office.” objectives must be compatible traditionally relied on chemicals Birmingham Airport. Now that the ice detection system has Good results been installed, all observations can be made from the Duty “Our Vaisala system is new, and Controller’s office. Extensive we are still learning about it, Thermal Mapping enables 24- but I think it has performed hour forecasts for runways and very well. The system has given taxiways, so action can be us a clear picture of airfield taken in advance to prevent ice conditions. It also gives us bet- formation on critical surfaces. ter information and the ability To enable precise measure- to predict the weather condi- ment of the surface tempera- tions, which is very beneficial.” ture at a target point, the air- According to Mr. Patrickson, port also needed a runway sen- Vaisala has offered very good sor. Birmingham’s airport sys- quality and service. Coopera- tem comprises two ROSA weath- tion with the Vaisala Birming- er stations, each connected to ham Office has been smooth, two DRS50 ice sensors. The and they have also been satis- compact DRS50 sensor does fied with Vaisala’s on-going Peter Patrickson is Airfield Operations Manager at the not generate heat or disturb the support and after-service. ■ Birmingham International Airport. pavement surface in any way,

147/1998 39 Ushuaia Airport in Argentina The World’s Southernmost IceCast Installation

A new airport has been built during the past ten years on the Argentine side of the Tierra del Fuego archi- pelago. The airport serves the growing number of tourists visiting the area. To efficiently maintain an open runway in rapidly changing weather conditions, the local airport authority, Aeroporto International del Ushuaia, selected a Vaisala IceCast ice prediction system. Through continuous monitoring, the IceCast system helps with runway maintenance in extreme weather conditions, while reducing the costs of de- icing materials and labor.

shuaia, a city of 44,000 inhabitants, is separated from U mainland Argentina by the Strait of Magellan. Located on Beagle Channel against a backdrop of snow- capped mountains, this southernmost city in the world is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, the ‘Land of Fire’. The province was so named because of the torches that native inhabitants lit for cooking and for warmth along the shore. Set in a glacial environment, Ushuaia has the rugged feel of a frontier city. Its name comes from the Yamana language and means ‘bay penetrating to the westward’. In 1984, Ushuaia cel- ebrated its centennial. The prevailing climate in the region is cool. Fierce winds from the WSW are even more intense during spring and summer. During winter, the entire One of the three fully equipped ROSA stations at the Ushuaia airport. urban landscape changes when the snow falls, and is covered in white.

Challenging location for airport operations

The approach to the Ushuaia airport is dramatic. Aircraft fly over the southernmost tip of

40 147/19 9 8 Roberto Fernandez President PTU Instrumental S.A. Buenos Aires Argentina

and

Frank Zokoll, M.Sc. (Eng.) Systems Support Vaisala Birmingham United Kingdom

Mr. Frank Zokoll. From the left: Mr. Ricardo Gonzales and Mr. Roberto Fernandez by the ROSA weather station. the Andes mountains that curl tions is expected to grow con- the runway to achieve the best ity of the surface. This tech- down from the Chilean coast, siderably. coverage for the surface read- nique has been utilized with and then drop onto an airstrip The airport’s opening cer- ings. Because of the prevailing the latest ROSA station, so a that borders the Beagle Chan- emony was held on 12 June westerly winds, the center and determination of water film nel. The airport is on a flat 1997. Of special note is the ter- touchdown area are the most thickness and depression of the stretch of tundra-like grassland. minal building, which is the critical in icy conditions. freezing point can be made. Airport operations in extreme largest wooden building in The data collected and ana- This ensures that both the sur- and quickly changing weather Argentina. Both its design and lyzed by the ROSA station is face of the sensor and the sur- conditions are an added chal- materials blend into the scenery processed every 15 minutes by rounding road surface are meas- lenge. Landings and take-offs and natural setting of this fasci- the central IceCast Server, ured and taken into account in have to go safely and smoothly. nating place. where it is sent every 15 min- the resulting readings. The weather can change utes via a radio link. The radio The runway states to be deter- extremely quickly and, because IceCast system cuts costs modems of the ROSA system mined are as follows: there is so little land mass transmit at a rate of 9600 below 50° latitude, fierce winds The Ushuaia system is the first bits/second over a distance of Dry – surface is dry can occur during storms. IceCast installation in Argen- up to 2 km. The transmission Moist – surface is moist The site of the airport is a tina, and in fact all of South takes place very quickly and is Wet – surface is wet former island that was changed America. It is also the south- very secure. Trace – residual chemicals on into a peninsula by transport- ernmost installation in the The new-generation ROSA the surface ing one million cubic meters of world. road weather station is highly soil and rock, smoothing off The airport system consists modular and allows various Wet and Trace – surface wet the previously hilly terrain to of three ROSA automatic configurations. With its robust and de-icing chemicals present about 50 meters above sea weather stations (Road Surface and compact structure, it can Frost – hoarfrost present on level. The runway, designed for Analyzer), each with DRD11A be used in very harsh environ- the surface landings of large aircraft, runs precipitation sensors, HMP35D ments. The stations can be Snow – it is snowing, or has roughly east to west, to match humidity and air temperature linked together in small net- snowed recently the almost ubiquitous westerly probes and two DRS50 road works to reduce cable length, winds. The local air force is and runway sensors. Using this speed up installation, and in- Ice – mono-crystalline (black) already using the airport for set-up, the three stations moni- crease reliability and accuracy. ice on the surface delivery flights to the Antarc- tor local weather and surface tica, and three Argentinean air- conditions on the runway and Accurate readings Comprehensive lines have daily connections to at the taxiway entrances. of runway surface ROSA weather stations other mainland destinations. The runway, sloping from conditions The airport will be opened to the center point in each direc- Thanks to its modular compact international carriers in 1998, tion, is designed for the fastest The state of the runway surface design, the ROSA station is when other charter airlines are possible run-off of water. For is measured with a patented quick and easy to install. It is planning flights to Ushuaia. By this reason, six DRS50 sensors passive technique for recording also sufficiently robust to with- next year, the volume of opera- were placed at critical points of the polarization and conductiv- stand even the most extreme

147/1998 41 Sea Lion’s Island with thousands of cormorants who, wing-to-wing and toe- to-toe, cling to every available square inch of the rock. weather conditions. Because of ware to produce highly accu- its integrated system operation rate predictions of surface tem- and unique detection principle peratures and conditions, cloud for determining amount of the amount and height, and pre- de-icing chemicals and the cipitation. freezing point, the station per- Additionally, an alarm box is forms all required measure- connected to the computer to ments, compiles the results and give audible and visual alarms provides the interpretation of in case of critical runway con- its input in a user-friendly for- ditions. This box is currently in mat. the meteorologists’ office, but The data is displayed in vari- when the airport building is ous ways in the IceCast Server, ready, it will be moved to the in tabular or graphical form, or winter maintenance facilities. in data blocks overlaying the Although it will be located next airport map for a quick over- to the workstation, the alarm view. The various runway sur- box is directly controlled by face conditions, warnings and the IceCast Server. As the ice alarms are displayed in a workstation is not necessarily user-friendly format. Because updated as often as the data the weather can change ex- collected by the weather sta- tremely quickly in Ushuaia, it tions, this allows for the fastest is important for users to make possible alarms in case of haz- quick decisions. So they have ardous conditions. to understand the effect and In the future, the worksta- combinations of various air, tion will be located at the win- surface, ground, depth and dew ter maintenance facilities. Local point temperatures, as well as companies will be responsible the freezing point. All this data for winter maintenance, and is provided by the ice detection will use the workstations to system, which helps users monitor weather conditions at determine how conditions will the airport. develop. An Uninterruptable Power The ice detection system Supply (UPS) secures the safety only makes predictions for the of the system operation, as next several hours, by follow- breaks in the power supply are ing slopes and correlating them quite common in Ushuaia, and with pre-defined thresholds for the backup power system at the user alarms. For 24-hour and airport is already serving all longer forecasts, the forecasting other installations. ■ office uses FORECAST soft-

42 147/1998 Sea Lion’s Island with thousands of cormorants who, wing-to-wing and toe- to-toe, cling to every available square inch of the rock. weather conditions. Because of ware to produce highly accu- its integrated system operation rate predictions of surface tem- and unique detection principle peratures and conditions, cloud for determining amount of the amount and height, and pre- de-icing chemicals and the cipitation. freezing point, the station per- Additionally, an alarm box is forms all required measure- connected to the computer to ments, compiles the results and give audible and visual alarms provides the interpretation of in case of critical runway con- its input in a user-friendly for- ditions. This box is currently in mat. the meteorologists’ office, but The data is displayed in vari- when the airport building is ous ways in the IceCast Server, ready, it will be moved to the in tabular or graphical form, or winter maintenance facilities. in data blocks overlaying the Although it will be located next airport map for a quick over- to the workstation, the alarm view. The various runway sur- box is directly controlled by face conditions, warnings and the IceCast Server. As the ice alarms are displayed in a workstation is not necessarily user-friendly format. Because updated as often as the data the weather can change ex- collected by the weather sta- tremely quickly in Ushuaia, it tions, this allows for the fastest is important for users to make possible alarms in case of haz- quick decisions. So they have ardous conditions. to understand the effect and In the future, the worksta- combinations of various air, tion will be located at the win- surface, ground, depth and dew ter maintenance facilities. Local point temperatures, as well as companies will be responsible the freezing point. All this data for winter maintenance, and is provided by the ice detection will use the workstations to system, which helps users monitor weather conditions at determine how conditions will the airport. develop. An Uninterruptable Power The ice detection system Supply (UPS) secures the safety only makes predictions for the of the system operation, as next several hours, by follow- breaks in the power supply are ing slopes and correlating them quite common in Ushuaia, and with pre-defined thresholds for the backup power system at the user alarms. For 24-hour and airport is already serving all longer forecasts, the forecasting other installations. ■ office uses FORECAST soft-

42 147/19 9 8 New ICE Customers

saw an unprec- Salting Route 1997edented growth in Optimization the number of new Vaisala customers for ICE products Salting Route Optimization around the world, reaffirming was carried out for customers Andy McDonald, our position as the number one in Belgium, the UK and the M.Sc. (Met.) supplier of ice prediction tech- USA on more than 22,000 km Marketing Manager nology. of road network. Vaisala Birmingham UK Thermal Mapping IceCast Ice Prediction System More than 100,000 km of new Thermal Mapping contracts New customer installations of were signed and completed, IceCast software and ROSA bringing the total distance cov- weather stations were completed ered since 1985 to over in Argentina, Belgium, China, 1,000,000 km. Specifically, new the Czech Republic, Finland, projects were undertaken in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Japan, Switzerland, the UK Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Russia, and the USA. Sweden and Switzerland.

Key Personnel in the ICE Group

Vaisala’s ICE Group is an inter- Steve Laux, ICE Technical & Leon Shneider, National national team, with research and Resources Manager (Birming- Sales Manager (Boston) – re- development contributions from ham) – responsible for ICE SBU sponsible for managing sales in Finland and active sales, mar- operational matters and the North America. keting and support from the project management organiza- David Bullock, Sales Man- UK. One of the main advan- tion. ager (Birmingham) – respon- tages of global activities is the Taisto Haavasoja, ICE R&D sible for sales in part of the international experience gained Manager – Hardware (Helsinki) UK. from many different opera- – responsible for the develop- Jussi Paananen, Area Man- tional cultures. Designing prod- ment of ROSA road weather ager (Helsinki) – responsible ucts to meet global needs is a stations at the Helsinki Office. for sales in eastern Europe. stimulating challenge for the Andy Hutchinson, ICE Leena Puhakka, Sales Man- ICE development team. R&D Manager – Software (Bir- ager (Helsinki) – responsible mingham) – responsible for for sales in eastern Europe. Vaisala’s main contact people managing software develop- Aki Paananen, Area Man- are as follows: ment of IceCast, IceView, and ager (Helsinki) – responsible IceMan software products from for sales in Russia. Jonathan Lister, ICE SBU the Vaisala Birmingham Office. Ulla Laanti, Sales Manager Manager (Birmingham) – has Brooke Pearson, Area Sales (Helsinki) – responsible for overall control of the ICE Stra- Manager (Birmingham) – re- sales in Russia. tegic Business Unit within the sponsible for sales in part of Seichi Matsui, Sales Man- Vaisala Group and is also the UK and the Germanic ager (Tokyo) – responsible for Managing Director of the Vai- speaking countries of eastern sales in Japan. sala Birmingham Office. Europe, and for sales support Andy McDonald, ICE Sales for Vaisala’s Tokyo Office. & Marketing Manager (Birming- Paul Hutchinson, Area Sales ham) – has overall responsibil- Manager (Birmingham) – ity for sales and marketing for responsible for sales in part of the ICE SBU. the UK.