Rwanda trains radar engineers to improve "operational efficiency" in weather forecasting

A dozen radar engineers and operators recruited by Rwanda Meteorological Department are undergoing a one-week training to equip them with knowledge and skills on the interpretation and application of the newly introduced Doppler weather radar products and technology in the country.

The Rwanda Meteorological Department said on Thursday that the training, the first of its kind in the country, which started on Wednesday, is being attended by pilots and traffic controllers at Kigali International airport.

More especially, these engineers will be trained on interpretation and utilization of wind shear data from equipment installed at the airport.

Climate experts argue that while teaching radar engineers on the use of the new technology, tremendous advances would be achieved by the tiny East African nation in the  operational weather forecasting which requires rapid circulation of data in real to near‐real-time.

 John Ntaganda Semafara, Director General at Rwanda Meteorology Agency

Currently African national meteorological departments have free access to some global model products through Eumetcast or Internet in a move to facilitate the operational weather forecasting. However, these countries are facing challenges related to the lack of training to catch up with new tools.

Francois Nsengiyumva, the Acting Division Manager of Technology and Information Support Services, said the training shall solve the issue of staff scarcity at the radar site by bringing on board newly recruited weather radar engineers and data interpreters.

"This training shall enable our engineers to perform the necessary preventive and corrective maintenance and calibration of the radar system," he said.

The training is being offered by Advanced Radar Company (ARC), an American based supplier of the C250P Doppler weather radar system acquired by Meteo Rwanda in 2015.

Kim Weaver, one of the instructors, said that much effort shall be spent teaching calibration techniques to ensure the radar data are of the highest quality.

"The course will examine the overall design of the system and then discuss each subsystem. The emphasis will be on configuring, operating and maintaining the system," said Kim Weaver.

Frank Rusanganwa, Senior Meteorologist at Meteo Rwanda, said that the training shall enable him to enhance his forecasting skills to provide early warning information for disaster risk reduction and preparedness.  

Source: PANAPRESS