Weather Stations
Numerous automatic weather stations have been installed by CTS across Southern Africa. Below some reference projects.
Weather Stations Projects
Manufacture, Supply and Installation of 3 Automatic Weather Stations in Northern Namibia
Ministry of Agriculture
2019
Ministry of Agriculture through, through SASSCAL funding, did acquire 3 automatic weather stations in 2018 which where finally installed in 2019 after sites have been determined. These stations from part of the existing SASSCAL weather station network that has been established over the past years. All stations conform to SASSCAL requirements and are inline with WMO standards.
The stations are installed at :
- Dudukabe (Zambezi)
- Okalongo (Ohangwena)
- Omafo (Ohangwena)
Station info can be obtained from www.sasscalweathernet.org
Supply and Installation of 3 Automatic Weather Stations in the Kunene Region
University of Hamburg
2017
The University of Hamburg approached CTS directly with the request to quote and subsequently manufacture and install 3 automatic weather stations at:
- Khorixas
- Kaoko Otavi
- Okangwati
Once again, satellite communication has been chosen, this time not because of GSM not being available, but to reduce future cost of the stations as satellite communication for these stations has got no costs associated.
In addition to the basic data measured:
- Wind speed
- Wind direction
- Humidity
- Air Temperature
- Irradiance
- Barometric pressure
- Ground Temperature
- Rain
- Leaf wetness
The stations are equipped with a WLAN interface. This allows the connection of 49″ SmartTV to be connected to each station to display the current weather inside close by offices.
Supply of Solar Resource Measurement Station to NUST
Namibia University of Science and Technology
2016
Central Technical Supplies was approached by the University of Stellenbosch to take part in a tender to supply a solar resource measurement station to the Namibia University of Science and Technology in Windhoek.
We were successful in winning the tender. The station is based on the Kipp and Zonen Solys 2 sun tracker with CMP 10 Pyranometer and CHP1 Pyrheliometer.
The station is based on the CR1000 logger from Campbell Scientific and measures wind speed and direction as well as ambient temperature, humidity and rain in addition to the solar resource data.
Installation of 5 Automatic Weather Stations in Botswana with Satellite Communication
University of Hamburg
2015
Based on our excellent service and knowledge we have rendered to the Botswana Meteorological Department as well as University of Hamburg, CTS was able to secure the 2nd Phase of the manufacture, supply and installation of automatic weather stations in Botswana.
The stations supplied to make use of satellite communication due to the extreme remoteness of the sites, these were:
- Mababe (Savuti Marsh)
- Tubu (Okavango)
- Baines Drift (Eastern Botswana)
- Xade (Central Kalahari Game Park)
- Ngwaltle (Western Botswana)
These stations are not located at any Meteorological Department property, thus fences had to be erected for protection against animals.
Station design is based on our well proven tripod mast with all relevant sensors and a CR1000 logger as the processing unit. Data is transmitted at fixed timeslots allocated by EUMETSAT (Germany) on an hourly basis. Satellite transmission is based on a fire and forget principle, thus no remote maintenance can be done.
Weather data can be found at: http://www.sasscalweathernet.org .
Oranjemund Airport - Supply, Install and Commission of an Aviation Weather Monitoring System
DeBeers Marine Namibia
2015
DeBeers Namibia published a tender for the supply and installation of a weather monitoring system at the Oranjemund Airport. CTS was awarded the tender based on price, knowledge of the meteorological measuring equipment as well as quality of products. At time of installation the station was the most advanced aviation weather station in Namibia.
Technical Details of the system installed:
- Ceilometer at end of runway 20 to measure cloud height at three levels up to 7,500m
- Runway Visibility and Present Weather sensor at stop end of runway 20.
- Present weather sensor monitors 7 different types of precipitation
- visibility sensor takes background luminescence into account
- Wind speed and direction a touchdown runway 20.
- Wind speed and direction, rain as well as barometric pressure at stop end runway 20
- AviMet server for processing of all data
- 3 workstations spread along the buildings for weather monitoring and supervision purposes
- ATIS voice system transmitting on aviation frequency as well as telephone dial in the current weather conditions
All communication between the equipment and the AviMet server is based on wireless transmission to reduce cabling costs.
The weather information can be picked up rough 100 NM away from the airport by all approaching aircraft.
Installation of 10 Automatic Weather Stations in Botswana
University of Hamburg
2014
CTS was approached by the Botswana Meteorological Department and the University of Hamburg with the request to install automatic weather stations across Botswana. A total of 10 stations were engineered and build at our workshop in Windhoek prior to installation commencement. With our own tower design, the installation time is reduced to nearly 8 hours per tower.
The stations are equipped with sensors from Vaisala, Kipp and Zonen. At the heart of each station is the CR1000 logger from Campbell Scientific. Each station is capable to measure the following:
- Wind speed
- Wind direction
- Humidity
- Air Temperature
- Irradiance
- Barometric pressure
- Ground Temperature
- Rain
- Leaf wetness
In addition to the above parameters the following parameters are calculated by the logger by means of mathematical models.
- Dew point temperature
- Wet bulb temperature
- Sunshine duration
The data from the station is transmitted to ftp servers situated in Gaborone/Botswana as well as Hamburg/Germany on an hourly bases over locally available GSM network providers. Once the data is uploaded to the server in Hamburg, it is processed and posted on a publicly available website. This website collects data of numerous stations across Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Angola and South Africa for research purposes. A total of 8000km was covered in just under 4 weeks.
Supply and Installation of Automatic Weather Stations at Kanovlei and Koichab Pan
National Botanical Research Institute
2014
National Botanical Research institute approached CTS to upgrade two of their existing AWS to satellite communication and subsequent installation at Kanovlei in the Tsumkwe Area as well as Koichab Pan close to Lüderitz.
Communication is via Meteosat satellites and based on a “fire and forget” principal which unfortunately does not allow remote maintenance procedures.
The stations form part of the SASSCAL Weathernet and measure all important meteorological parameters.
Weather data can be viewed at: www.sasscalweathernet.org
Design, Manufacture and Supply 21 Automatic Weather Stations
National Botanical Research Institute (BIOTA)
2010
CTS has supplied 21 weather stations for the Biota research project. These weather stations are designed according to world meteorological standard.
Each station consists of:
- Wind Speed and Direction Sensor
- Irradiance Sensor
- Humidity/Ambient Temperature Sensor
- Barometric Pressure Sensor
- Ground Temperature Sensor
- Leaf Wetness Sensor
- Rain Bucket
The weather stations are equipment with the CR1000 logger from Campbell Scientific. Special software has been developed to allow automatic transmission of the weather data to a server based in Germany via GPRS using the local GSM network. Software updates can be done remotely minimizing travel.
Weather data can be viewed at: www.sasscalweathernet.org