KOPKOP MEDIA
Grade 11 students memorable visit to the National Weather Office
Grade 11’s of Kopkop College learnt a lot on weather forecasting and disaster management activities in the country, following their visit to the National Weather Office in 7mile.
“The objective of the excursion is for the student to hear, observe and learn from the specialist people who work 24 hours to collect atmospheric data or weather data in order to forecast daily atmospheric conditions,” said Geography Teacher, Jorute Rodney.
He said the trip enriches student knowledge on Natural Process and Disasters, under the unit on Oceanography and ocean currents circulation.
At the weather station, students learnt that data is collected and entered and directly sent to the worlds meteorologist database in Geneva, Switzerland.
PNG is part of the world’s Meteorologist society on climate and weather forecast and its data is also accessed by the Asia Pacific Meteorology service in Melbourne, Australia, which focuses on pacific regions.
The students also met meteorologist, Mr. Benjamin Malai, one of PNG’s four senior and registered Meteorologist/Oceanographer who is recognized in Australia, Japan, USA and other participating countries.
The National Weather Office has 14 substations in PNG and 22 weather sites for collecting data for daily condition. Currently there are only 20 in operation, some of which are located in Momote in Manus, Gurney in Alotau, Nazab in Lae, Tokua in Rabaul, and in Kagamuga in Mt. Hagen.
Arrival at the National Weather Service
It was a hectic day at the Weather Office. A vessel in Bougainville had gone missing and a meeting was held between the Acting Executive Director, Jimmy Gomoga and key National Weather officers.
The Public Weather Forecaster Peter Warupi, gave the students a tour around three work stations, which are for data entry, public weather forecasting and aviation forecasting.
Mr Warupi works alongside Mr Wartovo Horis, and they are the officers responsible for giving daily weather updates and conditions.
At the Work Station
At work station one, officer Justine Maneu and Adolf Bessie collect daily data in 30 mins interval from 6am-6pm, followed by an hourly interval from 7pm till 6am. The officers usually rotate to accommodate for the night and day shift.
Students found out that, data collected and entered in the daily and monthly log book and on computers include, Temperature, Pressure, Wind speed & direction, Water vapor and Cloud cover.
The data is then entered and directly sent to the worlds meteorologist database in Geneva.