Pagasa’s nationwide severe weather early warning system completed
File Photo
GERMANTOWN, Maryland–Earth Networks has announced the completion of the Philippines’ first nationwide severe weather monitoring and alerting network with associated software services for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
The announcement was made at the 6th annual InterMET Asia conference in Singapore.
Initiated in 2017, and formally commissioned this week, the technology partnership between Pagasa and Earth Networks is the first of its kind in the Philippines and surrounding regions, powered by a network of total lightning sensors and real-time automatic weather stations for mesoscale monitoring.
Installed and operated together with Philippine partner West Point Engineering, the 10-year program includes:
- Real-time lightning detection powered by the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network
- On-the-ground weather monitoring via the Earth Networks Weather Network, integrated with PAGASA’s existing weather data systems
- Sferic Maps, a web-based severe weather monitoring and alerting platform
- Severe weather data and visualization tools such as Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts and PulseRad, a lightning-derived radar alternative
- Short-range point forecasts powered by ENcast, enabling emergency response planning for specific disaster-prone sites
- Comprehensive training and maintenance for all weather sensors
Data from the collaboration will be commercially available to public and private industries in the region to improve and inform decision-making around severe weather. This will further enable a commercial sustainability model for these severe weather monitoring and alerting systems. Earth Networks has also deployed its first Outdoor Alerting System in the Philippines to provide wide area public alerting.
Pagasa is the Philippines’ public weather service provider, issuing typhoon and flood warnings, public weather forecasts, advisories, meteorological, astronomical, climatological products and other specialized services primarily for the protection of life and property and in support of economic productivity and sustainable development.
Earth Networks is a global provider of weather information services, including the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, with 1,700 total lightning sensors across 100 countries. Newly expanded in the Philippines, it is the world’s most advanced lightning network technology, featuring comprehensive monitoring of both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning, enabling faster localized storm alerts and more accurate weather forecasts.
“Our partnership with Earth Networks is an exciting next step in our commitment to bring the best, most technologically advanced weather information systems to the Philippines,” said the Pagasa administrator. “We can already see the benefits in improvements to our near-term forecasts, nowcasting and severe weather warning capabilities and look forward to further enhancements as a result of our cooperation.”
“We are delighted to build this innovative partnership model with Pagasa to help further our vision for a safer and more prosperous world,” said Jim Anderson, senior vice president, Global Sales at Earth Networks. “In addition to helping Pagasa with more accurate forecasting, severe weather monitoring and alerting, these new sources of data will greatly benefit a wide range of weather-sensitive industries in the Philippines, such as aviation, agriculture, energy and utilities. These commercial partnerships will further help sustain and expand these capacity enhancements for many years to come.”
About Earth Networks
Earth Networks has developed partnerships in many countries over the past several years to bring weather observation, forecasting and alerting technologies that are both low-cost and easy to deploy and maintain. The company is committed to enabling the best weather and lightning observation networks, visualization tools and early warning alerting technologies to the world.
Schools, airports, sports teams, utilities and government agencies rely on our early warning solutions to safeguard lives, prepare for weather events and optimize operations. Companies across all industries use our weather data to automate decisions regarding risk management, business continuity, and asset protection.
