A plan to provide mobile phone users a rainfall forecast service through their carriers is in the works, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.
Bureau director Shin Tzay-chyn (辛在勤) said the CWB, the Water Resources Agency and the Council of Agriculture’s Soil and Water Conservation Bureau have spent seven years jointly developing a system of quantitative precipitation estimation and segregation using multiple sensors (QPESUMS).
The QPESUMS system is capable of providing rainfall forecast an hour before the precipitation falls and it is done mainly using radar and satellite systems, he said.
“Through the observations, we are able to monitor convections and rain belts that are developing and estimate the potential location and amount of rainfall,” Shin said.
Shin said that in the past, the CWB could give rainfall forecasts based on the reports from its observation centers. However, it could only provide a rough estimate for areas outside the observation ranges.
The bureau can now give a more accurate forecast because it can detect rain falling on a grid in a satellite map, which represents a 1km² area, he said.
Shin said the complete statistics collected from QPESUMS are used by emergency rescue agencies so they can quickly take the necessary measures to prevent disasters if extremely heavy rain continues for an hour.
Shin said that part of the information was available at the bureau’s Web site and some mountain climbers have begun to use it to plan trips. The bureau is planning to allow the public to access the information by working with telecoms carriers.
“Say we have seen rain clouds moving from [Taipei County’s] Tucheng (土城) to [Taipei City’s] Muzha (木柵), the telecoms carriers can send text messages to their customers in Muzha if there is going to be heavy rainfall,” Shin said.
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