MANAGEMENT AND PROGRAM EFFICIENCIES ASSOCIATED WITH A MODERN AUTOMATED UPPER AIR OBSERVING NETWORK
M.J. Joyce, R.P. Canterford and P.R. Smith
Australian Bureau of Meteorology
PO Box 1289K, Melbourne, Vic, AUSTRALIA
Tel (+613) 9669 4087, Fax (+613) 9669 4168
Abstract
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology operates an extensive network of automated radiosonde-based upper air observing systems. There are currently 12 observing stations in remote areas that have this type of equipment. The first of these systems was installed over five years ago and a great deal of operational experience is now available. This paper builds on a report by the authors on the early implementation issues, presented at the previous TECO (2000). The experience and results presented here concentrate on the actual operation of the network in terms of the human resources required and how they are deployed, adaptive observations for severe weather events and research activities, management of the associated costs. Also presented are the efficiencies attained by utilising the capability of the systems (some at minimal or no staffing) to be operated from other offices (fully staffed). The use of a central help desk facility and automatic generation of mid flight messages for timely forecasting information is also addressed in the paper.
1. Introduction
Historically, staffing levels at Australian radiosonde stations were generally four people. This fell to three people during scheduled staff absences (recreational leave etc). With decreasing staff numbers, some stations could not maintain their upper air program (Figure 1) leading to large gaps in the climate record. From Figure 1 it can be seen that only 47% (1997) of scheduled 12 UTC upper wind flights were actually performed at some stations prior to their program being supplanted by an automated robotic system, the Autosonde (Canterford et al ,2000). The percentage of program performed at these stations increased to 89% (2000) once an Autosonde had been installed.
Figure 1
The Vaisala Autosonde facilitated scheduled automated releases that are not reliant on having staff on-station supervising the sounding. Adaptive releases can be performed from a remote station when there are no staff on-duty at the Autosonde station and assist forecasting meteorologists during significant weather events (cyclones, severe weather and frontogenesis etc).
2. Automated Network
A Vaisala Autosonde was installed for trials at the Bureau of Meteorology’s Training Annex, in Melbourne, in December 1996. A field trial unit was installed at Cobar in May 1997 using Vaisala RS-80N radiosondes. The Vaisala PC-CORA system at Cobar was decommissioned with all radiosonde soundings being performed through the Autosonde. The Cocos Island system became operational at the cessation of the OMEGA network in September 1997. From that time all Autosonde radiosonde soundings then used Vaisala RS80-15GA (GPS) radiosondes.
Factors such as falling staff numbers at field stations necessitated an expansion and acceleration of the Autosonde implementation plan. Installation dates are detailed in Table 1 below. On a number of occasions, reduced staff numbers have necessitated closure of an Autosonde station for days at a time. As there is an Autosonde at these stations, the scheduled upper air program can be continued without interruption. Additional soundings can be initiated, if requested, by forecasting staff or by an officer at a remote monitoring station (Figure 2).
WMO Number / Field Station / Autosonde Installation / 00 UTC Sounding / 12 UTC Sounding (Parent Station)94711 / Cobar / May 1997 / Cobar / Sydney Airport
96996 / Cocos Island / September 1997 / Cocos Island / Perth Airport
94302 / Learmonth / November 1997 / Learmonth / Geraldton/ Perth Airport
94312 / Port Hedland / March 1998 / Port Hedland / Geraldton/ Perth Airport
94430 / Meekatharra / June 1998 / Meekatharra / Perth Airport
94332 / Mount Isa / September 1998 / Mount Isa / Brisbane Airport
94170 / Weipa / October 1998 / Weipa / Brisbane Airport
94647 / Eucla / July 1999 / Eucla / Adelaide Airport
94510 / Charleville / December 1999 / Charleville / Brisbane Airport
95527 / Moree / April 2000 / Moree / Sydney Airport
94659 / Woomera / April 2000 / Woomera / Adelaide Airport
94637 / Kalgoorlie / September 2000 / Kalgoorlie / Kalgoorlie
Table 1.
Human Resources Required
Field Station with Autosonde:
· At a minimum, a person is required at the Autosonde station to physically load the balloon train (including radiosonde) into the tray of the carousel, although as mentioned above, this does not necessarily need to be performed on a daily basis. Prior to this, each radiosonde is ground checked against the AWS pressure sensor. Temperature and humidity are checked against sensors within the loading area. Acceptable differences are quite broad 6.0 hPa, 2.0 ºC and 7.0%. A finer ground check is automatically performed prior to the sounding release where acceptable differences are 2.0 hPa, 1.0ºC and 3%.
· Each 00 UTC sounding is monitored and quality checked in real-time. 12 UTC soundings (late night at most Australian stations) are either monitored and quality checked in real-time at fully staffed offices or are checked immediately post-sounding at another office if the sounding station is not fully staffed.
· A person also supervises the delivery (or on-site production) of hydrogen, although actual balloon inflation is part of the automated process.
· General housekeeping and minor maintenance duties are performed as required.
· Ad hoc faultfinding is performed as required. e.g. releasing a balloon stuck in the launcher (rare).
Remote “Parent” Station:
· Staff resources are required at any remote station monitoring 12 UTC soundings from an Autosonde station.
· Ad hoc remote faultfinding is performed as required.
· Adaptive observations can be initiated by staff with remote access.
Regional Office(s)
· Engineering technical officers trained in Autosonde fault-finding and maintenance.
Central Office(s):
· Higher-level maintenance is performed at regular intervals by suitably trained staff. These staff also perform non-routine maintenance as required.
· Operator and maintenance training is required prior to operational use of the Autosonde system – centralized training facilities using the BTC training Autosonde.
· Helpdesk for operations/maintenance assistance.
Staff Deployment
The following table outlines the essential staff deployment for the integrated network operations:
Number / Station / Hours of Coverage (Local) / Functions2 / Cocos Island, Eucla, Woomera, Cobar, Charleville, Mount Isa, Weipa / 06:15 – 18:15 / 00UTC TEMP, 21/00/03/06 UTC SYNOP, Aviation Observations, Marine broadcasts, Weather Watch, Public/Media requirements
3 / Port Hedland, Learmonth, Meekatharra, Kalgoorlie, Moree / Varies with roster
(Approx. 16 hours daily) / 00/12UTC TEMP, 06 UTC PILOT, 17-13 UTC SYNOP, Aviation Observations, Marine broadcasts, Weather Watch, Public/Media requirements
5/6 / Geraldton, Perth Airport, Adelaide Airport, Sydney Airport, Brisbane Airport / 24 hours / 00/12UTC TEMP, 18/06 UTC PILOT, 00-24 UTC SYNOP, Aviation Observations, Marine broadcasts, Weather Watch, Public/Media requirements
Adaptive Observations
Each autosonde is configured for the capability of being supervised by staff at a station remote from the Autosonde. In most instances, the ‘remote parent’ station performs post-sounding editing of the 12 UTC sounding after they have completed their own 12UTC sounding. Table 1 and the Figure 2 display the relationships between the sounding and these monitoring stations.
Figure 2. Network of Autosondes and 24 hour “Parent” Remote Stations
Management and cost aspects related to instruments and observing methods
Staff savings result from not requiring an officer on-station for all upper-air soundings. This leads to subsequent office and administrative efficiencies.
Removal of the wind finding component of the station’s radar allows for equipment and maintenance efficiencies. In addition, this provides the opportunity of relocating the radar to improve its exposure and full time application to weather watch.
Remote Operation Efficiencies
Staff efficiencies are made because a sounding can be initiated and monitored from another “parent” station that already has 24-hour coverage. This allows staff savings to be made at the Autosonde station. However, a point to note is that if the Autosonde encounters a physical problem, all remote operations cease until staff at the Autosonde station can rectify the problem.
Remote operations require robust communications. The Bureau’s Autosonde network relies heavily on a 64KB Frame Relay WAN to which all Autosondes are connected. The exception to this is Cocos Island, which connects to a WAN via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection through a local Internet Service Supplier (ISP). There have been a number of occasions where communications have been lost to a specific Autosonde with a loss of any sounding messages generated.
Central help desk
A central helpdesk is maintained during nominal sounding times and is contacted via mobile telephone when duty staff cannot rectify a problem with an Autosonde. Help desk staff have the capability to remotely access each autosonde via laptop computer to assist in fault resolution. This helpdesk assisted in the successful release of 200 soundings in the first year of operations. Calls to the helpdesk have tapered off as experience with the system grows and as hardware issues are resolved.
Automatic Message Generation
Full use is made of a facility within the Autosonde software where messages are automatically generated (or triggered) once the sounding reaches a particular standard pressure level. When a station is not staffed, FM35 TEMP Parts A and B are automatically transferred to a central collection point once the sounding has reached 100 hPa. Although not operator edited, receipt of the messages by forecasting staff allows leeway for remote station staff to edit the sounding after the sounding has been completed. At selected stations a trigger is used at 500 hPa to allow early access to the data by forecasting staff.
Technical and Training Aspects of Network Management
Central Office staff in Melbourne hold most operational and maintenance expertise and hold sole responsibility for configuration of the Autosonde system. Full use is made of the Windows™ NT® scripting facility – particularly for message generation and transmission. Because of the requirements for specialised training, Central Office staff perform the software maintenance and modification of scripts.
In order to maintain upper air data quality, Bureau staff monitor all Autosonde soundings either on site or remotely. By this integrated network approach, overall data input to both real time forecasters and the Climate Data Bank is achieved.
Cooperative development with Vaisala Pty Ltd (Australia) and Vaisala Oy was necessary in modifying the Autosonde system to operate under Australian regulations and environmental conditions. Changes to system design have been incorporated in later systems being sold in other countries. With the extensive experience in the real time operation of the systems, Australian staff have also been able to provide advice to other NMHSs. The manufacturer’s documentation has been supplemented with Bureau operational documentation. Additional maintenance documentation is written (if required) by the Bureau. Copies of all manufacturer documentation are held on-station.
Autosonde training is conducted in two streams: operations and maintenance. At installation, training is provided to on-station Observational staff and Regional Engineering staff. Training is provided for staff prior to commencing at an Autosonde station. Observations staff at Autosonde stations generally move every two years and retraining (if required) is usually carried out on-station.
Conclusion
The management and cost aspects of this integrated automated network of twelve robotic Autosondes, within the overall Australian network of 50 Upper Air Stations, has proven extremely successful. The efficiencies of reduced staff deployment at most stations, and remote operation by a selected number of 24 hour “parent” stations, has reduced costs and improved the network performance. This successful management of “out-of-hours” operations with remote “parent” offices has also allowed forecasting staff to initiate adaptive radiosonde releases during significant weather events. The automation has also allowed staff time to concentrate on other tasks, such as improved information services to the public and first-in-maintenance of all equipment on the station.
References
Canterford, R. P., Smith, P.R and Joyce, M.J. “Operational Considerations in Implementing a Network of Automated Upper Air Stations in Harsh Environments”. TECO 2000, WMO CIMO TR 78, Oct 2000.