According to officials at the St. Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority, SCASPA, the Automatic Weather Station, (AWS) is currently being installed by two technical officers from the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Mr. Marvin Forde and Mr. Damien Prescod.
The online and interactive platform will reduce the country’s vulnerability and enhance its resilience to climate change, natural hazards and poverty through enhanced civil protection.
The AWSs is a station that consists of outdoor weather sensors which communicate meteorological data to a display unit indoors which can be utilized for risk assessment and prediction.
The station will generate automated weather observation which will be viewable by the observer as well as users of the platform. It will also facilitate the real-time sharing of hydro-meteorological data in St. Kitts-Nevis and throughout the region and enhance efforts for the collection, analysis and application of data to improve early warning systems, hazard mitigation and eventually climate change adaptation measures.
The installation of the AWSs is a part of the ‘Enhancing Resilience to Reduce Vulnerability in the Caribbean’ (ERC) Project implemented by the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH). Technical and management support is provided by The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Barbados, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Barbados and the OECS. Financial support is offered by the Government of Italy.
According to SCASPA’s meteorological officers, the station will be operational during the week of 18th – 22nd June, 2012.