A plan to establish a weather observatory network that would be able to better predict rainfall volumes and thus help avert disasters is progressing well, a research institute said yesterday.
Part of the plan, the operation of a weather radar station in the mountains, has been successful so far, said the initiator of the project, the National Applied Research Laboratories’ Taiwan Typhoon and Flood Research Institute.
The Taiwan Precipitation Research Radar system was built in the mountainous Shanlin District (杉林) in Greater Kaohsiung late last year, and has been up and running since June, the institute said at a news conference.
Unlike the Central Weather Bureau’s (CWB) coastal stations, the new radar station is located in a mountainous area where it can obtain quick and accurate precipitation and airflow data for high altitudes, the institute said.
It said the real-time data collected by the station would be made available to the CWB in an effort to help enhance the bureau’s weather forecasts.
The institute said the station is part of a larger weather observatory network it is planning to launch next year.
The network is to include a wind profiler and unmanned aerial vehicles, which are to complement the existing radar system, and a research vessel, the Ocean Research No. 5, the institute said.
With the establishment of the observatory network, the institute said, it is aiming to better predict rainfall and thus be able to issue torrential-rain warnings up to three hours in advance.
The institute said that the primary goal is to help avert disasters like the destruction of the mountain village of Siaolin (小林) in Greater Kaohsiung, which was buried under a massive landslide that killed 462 residents during Typhoon Morakot in August 2009.
The typhoon, coupled with a southwesterly air flow, caused the worst flooding seen in half a century in the nation.
The weather radar station, at an altitude of 240m above sea level, has a radius reach of more than 150km that extends as far as Greater Taichung, the institute said.
However, the institute said that the focus is on the southern areas of Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, which are more vulnerable during the typhoon season.
Taiwan, with its mountainous topography, is at risk of landslides, flooding, infrastructure damage and loss of life during the typhoon season and other periods of torrential rain.
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