The National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL) has developed an integrated radar weather forecast system to provide an emergency warning and response advisory six hours before a potential disaster strikes, reducing casualty rates in disaster-prone areas.
The system is the first in the nation that incorporates data collected by radars, with torrential rain forecast accuracy improved by between 20 percent and 47 percent compared with the systems employed by the Central Weather Bureau, NARL researcher Tsai Chih-chien (蔡直謙) said.
The bureau’s current weather forecast system analyzes data collected by satellites, ground observation stations and weather balloons to measure temperature, atmospheric pressure and moisture among others.
The radar detection system allows researchers to detect the size, density and movement of nimbus clouds by transmitting radio wave pulses onto target objects, which can be used to evaluate the development of a weather system and produce a more precise six-hour weather forecast, Tsai said.
There are 10 weather radars in the nation, which can offer a far larger amount of high-resolution data than conventional weather stations, he said.
The NARL introduced a US radar data assimilation system to crunch data provided by the national radar network and combine the results with satellite images and other weather data to produce an integrated analysis, he said.
The system has been tested to provide short-range rain forecasts at Suhua Highway, connecting Yilan and Hualien counties, and flood forecasts for Gaoping River in Pingtung County and Kaohsiung — two of the most mudslide-prone areas in the nation — and has yielded higher precision rates compared with existing forecast models.
Referencing a disaster caused by Typhoon Megi in 2010, in which torrential rain over the highway caused rocks to fall and a tour bus to crash, killing 26 people, Tsai said the system could issue an early warning to the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) to close roads to prevent disasters.
Traffic on the highway is blocked for 24 days and controlled for 32 days every year on average; 977 people were injured and 69 killed on the highway from 2005 to 2012, the NARL said, adding that the system could greatly reduce weather-associated risks for travelers.
The NARL is working with the bureau to make the integrated radar system a main analysis model for the bureau.
The system is expected to be launched to detect typhoons next year, Taiwan Typhoon and Flood Research Institute Director Lee Cheng-shang (李清勝) said, adding that a national highway disaster prevention platform would be established in cooperation with the DGH.
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