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DESIGN OF THE NEW AUSTRIAN METEOROLOGICAL NETWORK

This article outlines the historical overview, technical specifications, and future developments of the new Austrian meteorological network. It discusses the concept of the Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and the reasons for shutting down conventional stations. The article also highlights the purposes and demands of a national meteorological network, including providing data for weather prediction, severe weather warnings, prevention of natural disasters, and climate analysis. It concludes with additional needs for an improved network, such as increasing coverage and standardizing the dataflow and information systems.

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DESIGN OF THE NEW AUSTRIAN METEOROLOGICAL NETWORK

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  1. DESIGN OF THE NEW AUSTRIAN METEOROLOGICAL NETWORK Ernest Rudel Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik Hohe Warte 38, 1190 Wien Tel.: +43 1 36026 2201, Fax: +43 1 36026 72 E-Mail: ernest.rudel@zamg.ac.at

  2. Outline TECO 2008 • Historical Overview • The New AWS Concept • Technical specifications • Future developments

  3. Short view of meteorological measurements in Austria TECO 2008 • 1768: Regular measurements and observations in the monastery of Kremsmuenster • 1851: Foundation of ZAMG: establishment of a meteorological observation system • 1865: First issue of a daily weather chart • 1981: First AWS in operation (local storing, transmission via telephone) • 1991: Network of all AWS via leased telephone lines • 1992: AWS generate automatically hourly Synopmessages • 2005: 150 AWS, 100 conventional stations • 2005: Start of the project: AWS_newReason: difficulties in guaranteeing the renewal of the spare parts, an increasingly old technology • 2008: 250 AWS in operation

  4. Concept of AWS_new TECO 2008 • to shut down all manually operated classical climatic stations • to substitute all the AWS of the “old” generation with “new” ones (AWS_new) • to increase the network of AWS up to 250 stations • to improve the sensor equipment • to implement the new network 2007 and 2008

  5. Why shut down all the conventional stations? TECO 2008 • Increasing temporary coverage • Providing data from data sparse areas where human observations are not practical • Providing data continuously at frequent intervals and for any observation time • Eliminating the subjectivity in manual observations • Reflecting the requirements of all users of near real time synoptic data • Supporting the trends to reducing model grid scale and the need for more observations to be available in shorter timescales • an alleged potential to reduce costs

  6. Purposes of a National Meteorological Network TECO 2008 • data for quick and simple international exchange • data for weather prediction: Supporting the trends to reducing model grid scale and the need for more observations to be available in shorter timescales • severe weather warning is the cornerstone of the ZAMG mission, requiring an appropriate and sustained infrastructure, requiring continuous improvement of the associated forecasts • prevention and mitigation of natural disasters through early warning and vulnerability assessment • weather-related hazards (e.g. storms, flooding e.g. by rivers, drought, heat waves, persisting hot weather, cold spells) • risk impacted by weather (e.g. transport, dispersion and deposition of radioactive or chemical pollutants) • weather sensitive segments of the economy (e.g. transport, aviation, energy and other utilities, agriculture, insurance or food industries) • requirements to deliver innovative services, especially in relation to civil security, but also regarding climate change and public health (chemical weather forecasting)

  7. Purposes of a National Meteorological Network (cont.) TECO 2008 • Data for climate analysis and climate monitoring • High quality, well-calibrated long-term observations and measurements of a variety of climate elements are critical to the detection and prediction of climate variability and change, including trends due to human activities (urbanization, deforestation, etc) • expertise use (courts, assurance companies, regulations, standards, ...) • reflecting the requirements of all users of near real time synoptic and of offline climate data

  8. Demands on a national Meteorological Network must be assessed TECO 2008 • to assess the impact of the new system to existing systems • to take care of all WMO standards • to follow the demands and need of the EUMETNET observation network • to maintain the operation of historically-uninterrupted stations and observing systems • to facilitate access, use and interpretation of data and derived products • adequate national spatial distribution • data in more population dense areas (greater demand for data) • data from important traffic routes • data from areas with pronounced minimum and maximum values • areas with distinctive gradients • continuity (Long time measurements on the same site) • unifying the quality checks and derived values • Standardising the entire dataflow and information systems

  9. Additional needs of an improved National Meteorological Network TECO 2008 • increasing temporary and area coverage • transmitting precipitation data (minute data) every 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes in the former system • denser network in populated areas • providing data from data sparse areas where human observations are not practical or possible • data from mountain peaks using web cameras additionally • providing data continuously at frequent intervals and for any observation time and ensure a reliable data transmission also in case of public emergency, • secure transfer protocol with subcarrier transmission on analogue telephone lines • standard GSM link (hourly data) • satellite connection (25% of all the stations)

  10. Additional needs of an improved National Meteorological Network (cont.) TECO 2008 • eliminating the subjectivity in manual observations. With universal interfaces between sensor and bus system the AWS can operate arbitrarily sensor systems with different signal output (digital, analogue or digital telegram) • e.g. connection of PW, snow depth, ceilometers, etc. without modification of the system • to choose station sites with the possibility to have a local technical support and additionally to have also a meteorological observer

  11. AWS _ old TECO 2008 Disadvantage: sometimes the senso-cable are very long

  12. AWS _ new TECO 2008

  13. Sketch of data flow TECO 2008

  14. Network AWS_new TECO 2008

  15. TECO 2008

  16. AWS TECO 2008

  17. Conclusions TECO 2008 • the upgrade and the extension of the automatic weather stations network in Austria ensures a quantitative and a qualitative improvement of the measurement of meteorological parameters . • the network of 250 AWS ensures a medium representativeness of approx. 320 km² (18x18km). • The increase of the temporal resolution of the measurement data in real time is required by different users of meteorological data (synop, climate, environment, economy, legal aspects) and especially for inputs in local area numerical models (ALADIN, ALARO, etc.) • the standardization of the network would make it possible to optimize the operational aspects by decreasing the costs of operation.

  18. Future outlook TECO 2008 • change old sensor types • e.g. hair hygrometer with dew point measurements • add sensors • e.g. PW, visibility, ceilometers, snow depth, etc • additional stations in climate or environmental sensitive areas • to upgrade the design of the network always on the knowledge of coordination and development of the meteorological infrastructure • to enhance the expertise on weather, climate, water and the related environment and to act as major contributors to: • The safety and well being of people • Sustainable development; and • Environmental protection

  19. Thank you for your attention! TECO 2008

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