FIELD VISIT TO THE

DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY

NAME

: Jayasiri G.P

INDEX NO

: 120254B

GROUP

: 1st Half

DATE OF SUB : 20.04.2015

1. Types of data collection and instruments used by

department of meteorology
Basically, there are two types of data. They are,

Surface data
Up-air data

To collect these data, the department of meteorology uses various instruments. Below is a
concise list of them along with their use.
1) Anemometer
2) Wind vane
3) Dry bulb thermometer
4) Wet bulb thermometer
pressure
5) Maximum thermometer
6) Minimum thermometer
7) Graph meter
8) Hair hydrograph
9) Barometer
10) Rain gauge
11) Sunshine recorder
12) Balloons
upper air
13) Evaporation pan

measures wind speed

gives wind direction
normal ambient temperature
relative humidity, dew point and vapor
maximum temperature of the day
minimum temperature off the day
continuous variation of the temperature
relative humidity
atmospheric pressure
rainfall
sun shining hours
temperature, pressure and humidity of
rate of evaporation

2. Importance of consistency of meteorological data

Meteorological data are important to both weather forecasting and civil engineering
applications as below.

Weather forecasting Agriculture

Fishing industry
Navigation
Aviation

Civil engineering

Disaster management
Design of power plants
Flood controlling and risk management
Construction of dams
Design of tall structures

3. Main steps in weather forecasting and recent technological

developments
Below is a brief description of how the weather forecasting is being done.

There are 22 stations in Sri Lanka where climatic data are collected in 3 hr
intervals
Those collected data are synchronized with meteorological department
They are sent to India 10 min after recording (regional climatic data are collected
in New-Delhi)
Again meteorological department receives collected regional data from New-Delhi
Necessary analyses are done and isobars are drawn.
Weather forecasting is done

Lets have a look about recent technological developments

Using computer software

There are computer software that have been developed to analyze and predict
weather. The fundamental concept behind these is obtaining a set of differential
equations and solve them analytically to obtain the future conditions.

Transmission data using satellite technology

The satellites help to efficiently transmit the data all over the world so that the
resources will be effectively utilized.

Automatic weather stations

These stations will read the necessary readings and will synchronize with the main
station real time. These are advance stations and reduce the labour and
supervision. (Can be found in Sri Lanka now.)

4. Significance of work done by department of meteorology

Basically, Department of meteorology helps people ease their daily routine by
providing pre-warnings about the weather. Many will misunderstand the purpose of the
weather forecast, but we have to keep in mind that it is not something definite, but
something possible.
Other than weather forecasting, Department of Meteorology operates Tsunami
warning systems, flood warning systems and earthquake warning systems. (with the
help of other countries) These are really important for certain people. For an example,
Tsunami warning system is very much important to the people who live in coastal
areas. Considering these facts, the Department of Meteorology is providing an
invaluable service to the general public, but it seems the general public does not care
it much, due to the ignorance.