29-Mar-2023: Automated Weather Stations
The reception of Automated Weather Stations (AWS) data and its quality is being monitored round the clock at India Meteorological Department (IMD) Pune Central Receiving Servers and all IMD State Meteorological Centres. The network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) with Sensors for the meteorological parameters viz. Atmospheric pressure, Air temperature, Relative humidity, Rainfall, Wind speed and Wind direction undergo servicing/routine preventive maintenance at regular intervals by trained manpower available at IMD offices to ensure the quality of data from the system.
The preventive maintenance ensures necessary exposure conditions at AWS sites as per World Meteorological Organization (WMO) guidelines. The technical team during preventive maintenance/servicing, carry out grass cutting, cleaning of solar panels, equipments and general upkeep of the observatory site to ensure the quality of data from the system.
While doing the calibration of sensors, the atmospheric parameters are compared with the travelling standards of sensors during preventative maintenance/Servicing. If any sensor’s accuracy of AWS is not performing as per the WMO criteria, the sensor is replaced with new sensors.