Pagasa installs 6 automatic weather stations in S. Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration has completed the installation of six “automatic weather stations” – modern electronic devices that collect rainfall and other weather data – in Southern Mindanao in a bid to boost the country’s disaster preparedness.

Anthony Sales, director of the regional office here of the Department of Science and Technology, said in a statement that the new devices were put up in Baganga, Davao Oriental; Jose Abad Santos, Davao del Sur; at the Pagasa office here; the Island Garden City of Samal; Nabunturan in Compostela Valley; and at the Davao Oriental State College of Science and Technology in Mati, Davao Oriental.

The AWS is a stand-alone device that measures rainfall and collects other weather information and transmits them in real time to the Pagasa head office in Manila.

“These AWS stations installed in the region play a critical role in mitigating hazards not only in the region but all throughout the country,” Sales said.

Unlike the old rain gauges, which were vessels used simply to collect rain which technicians later manually recorded, the AWS is a weather data collecting and disseminating instrument inside a weather-proof enclosure. It comes with a data logger, rechargeable battery, telemetry and meteorological sensors, a solar panel or wind turbine and is mounted on a mast.

Aside from those installed by DOST-Pagasa, four more AWS units were installed in Davao under a project with Smart Communications Inc., the Pagasa statement said

The AWS will be formally turned over to the recipient local governments on May 29.

The DOST central office in Manila said to date, 87 rain gauges have been installed under the project with Smart, in addition to the existing 78 AWS that Pagasa itself has previously installed in various parts of the country.