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MANILA,
Dec 12 (PNA) – Subic and Tagaytay, two key cities in Luzon, may finally
get a Doppler radar after a bidder won the rights to produce the
country’s first state-of- the- art weather prediction instrument, a top
official from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA)said.
“We
could (be able to)use (a Doppler radar) in nine to 10 months. By 2010,
we’ll have 10 Doppler radars,” Nathaniel Cruz, Pagasa weather branch
chief disclosed, saying the successful bidder will finally be awarded
with the contract by the government this month.
The
radars are most likely to be manufactured in the US, he added. He,
however, did not mention the name of the winning contractor.
The bidding process has dragged on for more than five years reportedly due to lack of qualified suppliers.
Doppler
radars have the capability to place an estimate on the amount of
rainfall and also detect strong winds, velocity and the amount of
moisture in cloud formation.
Not
the least importance is that it can likewise predict typhoon movements
more accurately and provide a visual on thunderstorm conditions,
including possibility of tornadoes or hale storms.
No more wild guesses, he pointed out because the radar can give the latest and most accurate weather report.
“It
could provide "nowcast" instead of forecast which means we could now
predict the exact amount of rainfall in exact locations,” Cruz said.
“We need 10 Doppler radars to cover the entire Philippines,” he said,
adding the Philippines normally experiences 20 tropical cyclones a
year. These will be placed along the so-called typhoon belt, the
typhoon cauldron situated above the equator.
Pagasa is eyeing to install ten Doppler radars by 2010 to improve weather forecasting capabilities.
These
will be installed in Tagaytay City (1); Subic, Zambales; Baguio City
(1); Baler, Quezon (1); (1); Mactan, Cebu (1); and Mindanao (2).
Pagasa recently sealed a partnership with the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA)for the rehabilitation of three existing
radars in Virac, Aparri, Cagayan and Guiuan, Samar.
The
facility upgrade is inline with the agency's modernization program
partly funded by the national government's calamity fund.(PNA) |
