MSC Monitoring Renewal Project

CMOS 2012 Montreal, Quebec Thursday, May 31 Martin Elie on behalf of Dave Wartman

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Presentation Overview

• Context • Monitoring Renewal Components • Conclusions • Q & A

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Context

• Environment Canada (EC) provides Canadians with the information they need to make informed decisions to protect their health, safety, security and economic prosperity in the face of changing weather and climate conditions

• Industries that are directly affected by weather conditions account for >30% of the annual Gross Domestic Product

• The success of the Canadian weather forecast and warning system depends on a sophisticated monitoring infrastructure to collect information on current weather and to detect/track hazardous conditions with enough geographical coverage to represent conditions across of Canada

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• Environment Canada (EC) operates a number of weather/climate monitoring networks that are an essential component of Canada’s core weather forecasting and warning mandate

• The integrity of EC’s weather enterprise is at risk: – Current weather and climate networks are aging, experiencing

more frequent outages, and at increasing risk of failure – The ability to warn Canadians of severe weather affecting their

lives and property depends on early detection • On September 22, 2011, EC received, through a Treasury Board

Submission, funding over five years to renew and ensure the sustained integrity of its critical weather and climate monitoring infrastructure

Context

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Monitoring Renewal – Components

1. Radar Upgrade & Stabilization 2. Upper Air Stabilization 3. Surface Weather & Climate Stabilization and

Modernization 4. Sustaining the Canadian Lightning Detection

Network

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Component # 1 – The Canadian Radar Network - Context

• Weather radar is the principal tool used by forecasters to detect and monitor severe thunderstorms –> public safety & economic well being

• EC currently owns and operates a network of 28 Doppler Weather Radars across Canada

• The current network is a composite of different types of radars of various generations (e.g. 10-35 years old)

• Aging infrastructure is beyond expected lifespan and at increasing risk of outages/failure

• Recent outages have occurred during height of summer severe thunderstorm/tornado season when early detection is critical

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Component #1 - The Canadian Radar Network – Renewal Activities

• 10 year project, funding for first 5 years secured • Stabilize radars for the entire network – 5 year plan

– Existing radars have a number of aging sub-systems (e.g. electro-mechanical, motion controllers, RF components, etc.)

• Upgrade radars at 10 locations to dual-polarization technology

– RFI for industry solutions was issued early in 2012 • McGill Radar Replacement

– Formalization of relationship between EC and McGill University • Radar Replacement Prototype

– Making preliminary plans for the replacement of the oldest radars in years 5-10

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The Canadian Radar Network – Expected Benefits

• Implementation of newer dual-polarization technology is expected to enable forecasters to:

– Better detect tornadoes – Better distinguish between rain, snow, hail and freezing

rain • Improved accuracy and geographic precision of weather

watches and warnings • Reduced risk to the health, safety and economic

prosperity of Canadians

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Component # 2 - The Canadian Upper Air Radiosonde Network

• EC operates a network of 31 upper air radiosonde stations, located across the country –> launch radiosondes 2/day

• Essential input to NWP models, weather forecasts/warnings, and aviation safety

• Renewal funding will support the replacement of obsolete “Loran-C” tracking technology with new “GPS” radiosonde equipment

• Ensuring sustained longer-term real-time monitoring of the upper atmosphere

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Component # 3 – The Surface Weather and Climate Networks - Context

• EC operates surface weather and climate observation networks which provide:

– Real-time weather observations that are critical for the MSC’s weather forecast and warning program

– The foundation for Canada’s high-quality, long-term climate record

• Risks – Network infrastructure is aging and at increasing risk of

failure/outages – Not being properly Life-cycle managed – Dependence on partner

operators for data required to meet mandated responsibilities

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• The MSC will focus on approximately 550 core sites that are key for climate and severe weather purposes

• A systematic and opportunistic phased approach towards modernizing and sustaining these networks is being employed:

– Existing equipment will be replaced and upgraded – New stations will be installed

• 10 year project, with funding for first 5 years secured • Funds received through the TB submission will

supplement existing resources and enable the modernization of approximately 80 stations during the initial 5 year period

Component # 3 – The Surface Weather and Climate Networks – Renewal Activities

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• On average 10 people die/year due to lightning strikes and more than 100 are injured

• The Canadian Lightning Detection Network (CLDN) is composed of 84 sensors distributed across Canada

• The CLDN detects and precisely locates strikes providing forecasters with data that is critical in the detection and monitoring of severe weather

• Sustainable funding will ensure that EC can continue to exploit lightning data to its fullest in the detection and forecasting of severe weather

Component # 4 – The Canadian Lightning Detection Network - Context

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• Funding through this renewal initiative will be used to: – Facilitate the maintenance and upgrading of the CLDN sensor

and communications infrastructure – Improve the lightning information utility and availability on EC’s

Weather Office web-site

• Which will lead to: – A sustainable and accessible source of lightning data for

Canadians to help inform decisions to protect their lives and property

– Ensuring that meteorologists will have information on the development of severe weather in order to issue timely and accurate warnings, particularly for those outside the coverage of weather radar

Component # 4 – The Canadian Lightning Detection Network – Renewal Activities

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Conclusions

• Significant project with complex interdependencies – Employing a PRINCE 2 project management methodology

• The activities within the Monitoring Renewal Project will ensure continued reliability, sustainability and relevance of the core federal weather and environmental services through investment in weather monitoring

• This investment ensures that Canadians will continue to have access to world class national weather information, forecasts and warnings

• Environment Canada is committed to continually improving the quality of our weather observations, forecasts and warnings to help meet the expected increases in the occurrence and severity of severe weather and climate events

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Thank-You! Questions?

For additional information please contact –

Dave Wartman Dave.Wartman@ec.gc.ca Monitoring Renewal Project Executive Director Atmospheric Monitoring Division Weather and Environmental Monitoring Meteorological Service of Canada

or

Alexander Zucconi Alexander.Zucconi@ec.gc.ca Monitoring Renewal Project Manager Atmospheric Monitoring Division Weather and Environmental Monitoring Meteorological Service of Canada