Projects

Bangladesh meteorological department

Provision of a numerical weather prediction system in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is considered one of the countries most prone to natural disasters in the world. Located in the delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system, it is regularly exposed to extreme weather events, such as floods or tropical cyclones associated with storms. This project provided a numerical weather prediction system, and training for the meteorologists of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

Objectives

  • Update the national forecasting system and empower the team of meteorologists at the Official Institute of Meteorology.
  • Develop a modern, high-precision numerical forecasting system.
  • Train the team of meteorologists to be self-sufficient.

Methodology

  • Installation of the operating system and the WRF weather model on a new computational cluster in Bangladesh.
  • Incorporation of the global model operating system (GFS 0.25º) with 4 daily updates and configuration of the WRF model with ranges of 9 km, 3 km, and 1 km.
  • Calibration of the WRF model.
  • Assimilation and incorporation of data into databases.
  • Training of the meteorologist teams in Dhaka and Barcelona.

Results

The new forecasting model has been very useful for predicting major disasters such as Tropical Cyclone Fani. In May 2019, it was successfully anticipated by Bangladeshi authorities. The numbers of fatalities were reduced to figures never seen before for a meteorological event of such magnitude. Having a modern forecasting system, with a longer time span and a greater degree of detail, was key to reacting in time and sending alerts and directives to the entire population.

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