Enhancing Meteorological Services in Antigua and Barbuda

1. Presented By Donald Simon, Information Systems Manager, Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Services Email: donald.simon@ab.gov.ag RA-IV WIGOS Implementation Workshop 1 - 3 December, Willemstad Curaçao Antigua and Barbuda Presentation

2. Mission of the NMHS • Current Mission: To continuously provide superior meteorological services and products, add value, and promote safety and quality throughout the aviation industry. • Mandate: To providemeteorological services for Antigua and Barbuda; the Leewardislands and the British Virgin islands. • Responsibilities: Public weather forecasts, climate services, aviation services and severe weather warnings, Tsunami Warning Focal Point for Antigua and Barbuda • Major historicalmeteorologicaldisasterevents During the midthru the latter half of the 1990’s, wewereaffected by several Tropical Storms and Hurricanes. • The mostseverewas Hurricane Luis (Sep 1995) - islandwide hurricane damage • 3 liveslost (Antigua), 2.5 billion U.S. dollars economicloss • Staff composition related to observations and data collection, etc: • Currentlythere are 11 members in thiscategory, three of these are preparing to go off for furtherstudies to becomeForecasters.

3. WIGOS Implementation Status • Status of the WMO-reported national observing networks • Currently there is only one station for which the data is sent onto the GTS. • There are two stations (ID’s: AB44D718 and 1400C412) transmitting via GOES DCS to NOAA’s Data Distribution System (DADDS). • There is another station that should be transmitting via this satellite link also but currently has transmitter issues. • Two other stations with defective data radios are to be retrofitted with GPRS modems within a few weeks, to allow us to receive the data directly in the office and hopefully get them onto the GTS asap. • Another station is to be relocated from the Airport to another location and will also be retrofitted with a GPRS modem in the near future.

4. WIGOS Implementation Status • Is there an existing national or regional database that catalogues your observing networks? • The process of proper cataloging of our stations has just commenced. Currently we are putting together the metadata required for each station based on WMO guidelines. • Are your data and metadata are accessible and shared? • All information about our data collection systems and all meteorological data collected are readily available to anyone who requests them. Unfortunately all data is not currently online for direct access.

5. Major needs and gaps in observing capabilities and access • Major needs and gaps, related to observational data and access, when producing weather forecasts and warnings • As previously stated, all data is not yet online. Thus some historical data is not quickly accessible at the time of preparing forecasts • Major needs include additional equipment for expanding office’s networking infrastructure to get all data online. • Acquisition of additional GPRS modems has proven to be a challenge. • Training is a major requirement. • WMO can assist with funding for the required training of the various staff members. • Sponsor workshops (with manufacturers) on instrument maintenance wherever the required training is lacking, e.g. Maintenance and Servicing of AWOS’s. • RA-IV and Members can help by donating equipment necessary for expanding our office’s networking, storage and online data provision and capabilities.

6. Plans for the National Observing Networks • Current plans and projects for the evolution of the National Observing Networks • We are just about to commence the retrofitting of two Automatic Weather Stations with GPRS modems so that timely data can be received directly in the office and to get that data onto the GTS shortly. (SIM cards recently received). • As stated above, we are also planning on relocating an Automatic Weather Station from the Airport to a location closer to the city. This will also be retrofitted with a GPRS modem for easy access and data transmission. • The three Automatic Weather Stations that are either already transmitting by satellite or should be transmitting by this medium, will be retrofitted with GPRS modems in the very near future, hopefully within the coming year. • Within the next few weeks we will be installing four new Automatic Weather Stations which are already equipped with GPRS modems. (SIM cards in hand). • Our plans are to get all stations online for a fully functional National Observing Network, hopefully by the third quarter of 2016.

7. WIGOS Implementation Status • National WIGOS Implementation plan/strategy. • The Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Services is currently at the initial stages of implementing our plans for full WIGOS operation. • At this stage, our target milestone is to get some stations updated to allow full two way communication, then get them onto the GTS. • Training needs • Training for meteorological staff at both the observing and forecasting levels is needed. • Training also required for staff in instrument maintenance and IT related to meteorological systems operation and connectivity.

8. WIGOS Implementation Status • Agreements with partners • Very informal arrangements exist between the Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Service and persons in the private sector for data sharing. These are not specific to WIGOS implementation, but more of a policy for data collected by persons and organizations within the local community to be shared with the office. • Can partners discover and access our data? • Current constraints/barriers that are preventing non-NMHS organization from contributing and/or accessing observations via the GTS and/or WIS is the lack of proper communication to the various remotely located automated weather observing systems. Most of our stations that are producing data are not online and transmitting to the GTS.

9. WIGOS Implementation Status • Operational Quality Management System for the National Observing system Network. • A Quality Management System is being developed and are to be implemented in 2016, for the full operation of the Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Services. A subset of this QMS is dedicated to the operational and maintenance procedures for all meteorological instruments and observing systems. • Operational and/or maintenance processes for observing systems. • The full documentation for the maintenance processes for observing systems is not yet completed. It is however our plan to complete these as part of the overall office QMS and to fully implementation them in 2016. These will then be monitored for conformance.

10. Summary • In recent years we have acquired several automatic weather observing stations. Unfortunately a major issue has been the poor communication between our office and these stations, due mainly to poor quality data radios which seem to fail within a very short time after installation, constantly failing dial-up modems, plus the lack of internet and wired telephone service in the locations where these stations have been installed. Data therefore has to be collected manually from most stations using laptop computers. • Working with the station manufacturers, communication problems are being solved by upgrading all stations with GPRS modems which will allow us to utilize the GPRS/GSM cell phone data service that is now available throughout the two islands. We should then be able to put all stations onto the GTS. The government is providing the data service to our office at their expense. SIM cards for GPRS modem-based systems have already been supplied. • We do look forward to getting support in the form of funds for training, purchasing more GPRS modems and for equipment to properly lay out our IT infrastructure to allow full data storage and access to all via the Internet.

11. Thank You!