Improved network
Published: Friday, July 25, 2008
The Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) is the national authority for weather forecasting and managing weather related equipment, such as automatic weather stations.
Due to the recent frequent and unusual changes of weather patterns and the rapidly increasing price of oil, the Korean government has enlarged the budget for climate research and renewable energy development. This enabled KMA to improve its meteorological network.
First KMA developed a means to calibrate the various pyranometers used in the Korean field stations. With six CMP 21 pyranometers references were created for its regional branches. Now, a few years later, KMA is equipped with a full Kipp & Zonen Calibration Facility.
Secondly KMA expanded their automatic weather stations to complete Synoptic Weather Observation Stations (SWOS) that collect more comprehensive data:
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Air temperature
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Humidity
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Wind direction
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Wind speed
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Air pressure
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Solar radiation
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Sunshine duration
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Precipitation
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Ground temperature
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Visibility
Every SWOS is equipped with a Kipp & Zonen CMP 21 pyranometer.
These are the first steps in the improvement. Next, KMA is planning to establish a network of at least 10 Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) type stations around Korea.