The Technical Support Section of the Department of Meteorology is commissioned to provide high quality meteorological data and is therefore responsible for the installation and maintenance of the departmental network of weather stations. This station network comprises Conventional (CWS) and Automatic (AWS) Weather Stations, in terms of their operation. These station types are further categorized into Climatological and Rainfall stations, in terms of the meteorological parameters being measured: Climatological stations usually include sensors for the measurement of air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, rainfall, atmospheric pressure, soil temperature and solar radiation while rainfall stations only involve raingauges for the measurement of rainfall.
The network of AWS is a state-of-the-art weather station network, covering a significant area of the non-occupied part of the island and gradually replacing the older network of CWS. The AWS are solar-powered; the corresponding energy storage units can provide sufficient power to run a station for several days in the absence of direct sunlight. Each station is equipped with a number of atmospheric and soil sensors that can measure air temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction, soil temperature at certain depths etc. Every 10 minutes, all station measurements are automatically sent to databases maintained by the DoM for data storage, analysis and quality control. The measurements are also available on the DoM website every 10 minutes for access by the general public as well as for use by third-party applications.
In order to ensure the continuous provision of quality data, qualified Technical Support Section personnel perform regular maintenance of all AWS on a regular basis to ensure that all sensors and station equipment are in working order and compliant with international standards and manufacturers' instructions.