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Met. Dept. chief says Doppler radar equipment will help predict weather more accurately
View(s):The Department of Meteorology claims it would be able to predict weather more accurately once they are equipped with Doppler radar weather sensing equipment.
The Department’s Director General, Athula Karunanayake told the Sunday Times that they could predict weather more accurately if they have the required equipment, but conceded that even with more advanced equipment they could not pinpoint weather situations exactly due to its volatile nature.
“Even though we could not predict the 426.5-millimetre rain, we predicted rains above 100 millimetres by using global weather information and downsizing it and adopting it to one of our systems. Therefore, our predictions are scientific,” he argued.
Operations at the Department of Meteorology. Pic by Akila Jayawardena
As Sri Lanka is a tropical country near the equator, and surrounded by the sea, satellite technology is used to gather weather information and therefore technical errors could also occur, which could affect the predictions, the Met Dept. DG said..
Mr. Karunanayake pointed out that if Sri Lanka has Doppler radar, they would would be able to direct and reflect the radar beam to the clouds and estimate the amount of water particles.
“With that we could get scientific evidence of the water particles in the clouds and predict the amount of rain over one and half-hours time and issue warnings for flash floods, cyclones and other conditions,” he added
He added that two Doppler radars would help the dept accurately predict weather on land and sea. One is to be set up in Puttalam while the other will be set up in Pothuvill so they could cover the country and surrounding sea area (the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea).
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is to donate one Doppler radar equipment to Sri Lanka and currently the matter is at procurement level. The Japanese companies are bidding for tenders. “As this is a donation we are unable to rush anything we would have to wait until the Japanese carry out their procedures and set up the system,” the DG said.
“Currently we are planning to commission the Japanese donated Doppler radar in Puttalam in 2026.” he added.
The DG further added that the delay in obtaining the Doppler radar occurred due to the pandemic and the economic crisis, which made it difficult for Japanese officials to come to Sri Lanka to discuss the matter.
Mr Karunanayake added that they are also getting funds under a World Bank project to use artificial intelligence to help more accuracy in weather forecasts.
Accordingly, the AI system would be used to integrate data collected by equipment, satellites and global weather forecasting systems to create guidelines for the forecaster to provide more accurate predictions.
An earlier attempt to install a Doppler radar system provided by the World Meteorological Organisation at Gongala in 2008 was an embarrassing and costly failure. Parliament’s Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) disclosed in August last year that the failed project resulted in a loss of Rs. 78 million. The matter is also being investigated separately by the police and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption. When Met Department officials came before COPA last August, the committee expressed strong displeasure with the poor administration of the institution.
COPA Chairman Lasantha Alagiyawanna told the Sunday Times that the committee had identified many shortcomings at the Met Department during the meeting held in August and that it was up to the relevant subject ministry and the Met Department to rectify these shortcomings.
He added that COPA will call the Met Department for another meeting once the prevailing adverse weather situation subsides.
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