Matheos Papadakis Silas Michaelides Kaiti Savvidou Larnaka, 21 October 2011 // EMMA-METEOALARM

Monitoring weather and climate in the Cyprus

Meteorological ServiceMatheos Papadakis

Silas MichaelidesKaiti Savvidou

Larnaka, 21 October 2011 // EMMA-METEOALARM

In the eastern Mediterranean..


The Cyprus Island


Meteorological Service History (a) 1866-1870: First meteorological

observations 1878: British occupation 1881:Climatological Stations in Lefkosia,

Ammohostos, Larnaka, Pafos, Keryneia, Lemesos(1882)

1899: Second Climatological Station in Lefkosia


Meteorological Service History (b) 1900-1956: The department of Public Work

had the responsibility of the meteorological observation

1957: Establishment of Meteorological Service

1967: A scientist (physician) was employed

1968: A specialist organizes the Meteorological Service


Meteorological Service History (c) 1970: Decade of intensive development 1976: Establishment of the Meteorologial

Office in Larnaka Airport 1981: Establishment of the radiosonde in

Athalassa 1983: Establishment of the Meteorological

Office in Athalassa


Meteorological Service History (d) 1984: Establishment of the radiation center

in Athalassa 1986: Analog satellite photos 1990: Digital reception system (Meteosat) 1993: First output of LAM for Cyprus (ETA) 1994: Meteorological Radar in Kykkos (EEC)


Meteorological Service History (e)

1997:-- Telecommunication network between Larnaka forecasting office and Greek Meteorological Service

-- New radiation sensors in Athalassa 2000 :Development of the Database

(ACCESS, soon SQL, migrating to ORACLE)

2001 :Installation of the first AWS 2004 : NWP models accepted as official

forecasting tools


Evolution of the Network for the Meteorological Observations

Climatological and Rainfall StationsYEAR No of climatic stations No of rainfall stationsbefore Turkish invasion (whole island)1881 5 --1882 6 --1901 9 171902 9 361910 10 55 1931 7 60 1951 21 611961 28 90after Turkish invasion (areas under gov. control)1974 31 1011980 45 1051990 47 1122000 40 105



Meteorological Service Personnel

Met Officers:22• Degrees in Physics or Mathematics• Specialization in Meteorology

(Forecasting, Agrometeorology, Statistics)

Met Assistants: 54• Met Observations• Quality Control• Data Entry• Preparation of Reports• Station Inspection


Met Service Offices

Lefkosia – Headquarters, Climatology Unit

Larnaka&Pafos Airport – Synoptic Unit

Athalassa – Upper Air &Actinometric Station, Technical Support

Kykkos Site - Radar


The Radar site EEC, C- band Doppler radar, operating since 1996 RVP 6 Two unix workstations, one located at site, one at the

forecasting office at Larnaka Airport Full control to the forecaster Will be upgraded within the next 2 years (hardware

and software) Valuable tool for research programs funded by

European Union Data assimilation into Local Area Models

Kykkos site


Kykkos site


Radar output


24/7/365, 2 officers, 10 assistants Numerical Modelling

◦ MM5, Bolam, WRF, WAM, DWD, Cosmo (we only receive output in GRIB)

Verification WEB dissemination Research (models, dynamics of the

atmosphere, neural networks)

NSA , ISO 9001 certified !!!

Synoptic and Aviation Meteorology Section


Synoptic and Aviation Meteorology Section

Exchange meteorological information with international entities

Weather forecasts and warnings for Cyprus Disseminate weather forecasts and warnings to the

general public through media channels (press, radio and television) for :◦ The area of the island of Cyprus◦ For the area of Nicosia F.I.R.◦ For the NAVTEX sea areas of Southeast Kritiko, Delta, Crusade

and Taurus Provide weather forecasts and warnings and other

information for the needs of civil aviation, shipping and other marine activities in the sea area around Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean

Synoptic and upper-air observations


Business in the forecasting office


Meteorological Records◦Daily Precipitation (1916 - ) (ISO stations)◦Daily Maximum & Minimum Temperatures

(1976 - ) (~ 40 stations)◦Two Hourly Temp.& RH Data (1976 - ) (40 stations)◦AWS Data (2000 - ) (20 stations)◦Upper Air Data (1985 - ) (Athalassa)◦Evaporation (1976 - ) (20 stations)◦Solar Radiation (2000 - ) (Athalassa)◦Global Radiation (2000 - ) (7 stations)


The station Network


Synoptic Stations 3 -->3 Climatological Stations 40 --> will gradually

be replaced by automatic stations Automatic stations 26 --> 66 Rainfall gauges 111 --> most will remain for

historical reasons Radar (C-band) --> upgraded and

supplemented with two X-band to cover the entire Island. Networked??

2-3 wind profilers (budget not approved)

The Network in numbers


Participation in various organizations

1. WMO 2. FAO 3. GEO 4. CAF 5. EUMETNET 6. JOINT RESEARCH CENTERS 7. EMY 8. ICARDA 9. COST


European Funded Research Activities◦ VOLTAIRE, FLASH, EWENT (FP5, FP6, F7)◦ RISKMED, PRODIM (Interreg)

Locally funded research activities◦ AERAS (GIS and neural network forecasting of

dust events)◦ HEAT ISLAND (GIS and neural network distribution

of heat in urban areas and forecasting severe heat events)

Publications and contributions to conferences

The C.M.S. In Research


THANK YOU :-)

Communication Telephone+357 22802935 Fax +357 22305500 Weather line+357 24817998 Web www.moa.gov.cy/ms E mail [email protected] Address 28 Nikis Ave., 1086 Nicosia Cyprus or

Meteorological Service, 1418 Nicosia, Cyprus


http://www.moa.gov.cy/ms

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Matheos Papadakis Silas Michaelides Kaiti Savvidou Larnaka, 21 October 2011 // EMMA-METEOALARM