Nowcasting in VietnamNowcasting in Vietnam

Mr. Hoang Phuc LamShort-range Meteorological Forecasting Division

National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF)

Vietnam Hydro-Meteorological Service (VHMS)

VHMS OrganizationVHMS Organization

NCHMF MissionsNCHMF Missions Regular monitoring the hydro-meteorological conditions over the

whole country and related areas.  Issuing hydro-meteorological forecasts, warnings and advisories

as assigned for the disaster prevention and preparedness, socio-economic development, and national defense security. 

Carrying out researches and applications of new technologies on hydro-meteorological forecasting. 

Supplying instructions on operational hydro-meteorological forecasting; and validating the implementation of these instructions at Regional and Provincial Hydro-meteorological Centers. 

Organizing training courses on operational hydro-meteorological forecasting. 

Accomplishing international cooperation projects and programs on hydro-meteorological forecasting.

Aero-Meteorological Aero-Meteorological Observatory (AMO) MissionsObservatory (AMO) Missions Ensure the aero-meteorological observation stations over the whole

country to be ready in all conditions.  Monitoring and collecting data of radar network over the whole

country . Cooperate with NCHMF for issuing severe weather forecasts,

warnings and advisories for the disaster prevention and preparedness, socio-economic development, and national defense security. 

Carrying out researches and applications of new technologies on aero-meteorology. 

Organizing training courses on radiosonde and radar data for operators and forecasters. 

Department of Science and Department of Science and Technology and International Technology and International Cooperation MissionsCooperation Missions Science and Technology

◦ Orienting HMS’s research to server the following areas: Improving forecast quality for disaster prevention and mitigation Improving data quality, exploiting efficiently the existing

equipments... International Cooperation

◦ Implementing and/or orienting HMS’s international cooperation in improving data observation and forecast system

◦ Strengthen and expand cooperation with other countries and international organizations in the form of bilateral and multilateral

◦ Expanded cooperation with international organizations (WMO, UNESCAP, UNESCO, UNEP, IHP, Typhoon Committee, ASCMG, etc.) and countries (ASEAN, France, Japan, Italy and Norway, Russia, China, Australia United States, ...) in the field of Hydro-Meteorology and Environment

◦ ...

Nowcasting StatusNowcasting Status Radar Network

◦ 07 Radar – 03 conventional and 04 Doppler radars

◦ 01 conventional radar from the Airport

◦ Data quality is not good (noise, topographic effect, old radar…)

Upper-air Observational Network

◦ 5 stations (3 main stations with 2 obs/day and the other 2 is only 1 obs/day)

Satellite (receivers set up right inside NCHMF)

◦ MTSAT (Japan)

◦ FY2 (China) NWP

◦ Global models (Japan, US, US Navy, Canada, Germany, Australia)

◦ Regional models (HRM, WRF...)

7

Radar Network (Current and Outlook till 2020)

Current Radars

Proposed Radar sites

Conventional (Reflectivity) Radars (Thompson (French) radars)

Doppler Radars(most of them are C-band – EEC)

Upper-Air Upper-Air Observation Observation NetworkNetwork

Current stations

Proposed stations

Satellite Satellite images images (MTSAT)(MTSAT)

Every 30 Every 30 minutesminutes

Satellite Satellite images images (FY-2)(FY-2)

Every 30 Every 30 minutesminutes

Synoptic Synoptic DataData

- 6 hours- 6 hours- 3 hours - 3 hours (some)(some)

Hanoi Capital Area – 5 stations from 2008

Some Climatic Some Climatic Statistic Statistic about Tropical about Tropical CyclonesCyclones

Landfall Tropical cyclone from 1991 to 2010Yellow color: TD (force 6 Beaufort scale)Red color: Typhoon (force 12 and above)

Annual Thunderstorm Days Annual Thunderstorm Days for North Vietnamfor North Vietnam

Annual Annual Thunderstorm Thunderstorm

Days Days for Central for Central VietnamVietnam

Annual Annual Thunderstorm Thunderstorm

Days Days for South Vietnamfor South Vietnam

Flood in Nov 2008Flood in Nov 2008

Flood in July 2010Flood in July 2010

Flood in Jul and Aug 2009Flood in Jul and Aug 2009

Nowcasting for Hanoi Area: Nowcasting for Hanoi Area: Trial phaseTrial phase

- Start date: July, 2010. Reasons for nowcasting: - Hanoi is capital and administrative and politic center of Vietnam.- Evening thunderstorm caused heavy rain and flood for Hanoi urban area (1st Nov 2008 – historical flood, 12th July 2010, 20th July and 15th Aug 2009...)

- Area: Hanoi capital- Focus phenomena: Thunderstorm, Heavy rain- Data:

- Satellite images (MTSAT, FY2): about 15 minutes/image- 3 reflectivity radars: Việt Trì, Phủ Liễn, Nội Bài- synoptic observations (every 3 hours or telephone (if required))- 15 automatic rain-gauges (since Oct 2010)

- Information Transmission to Public: - NCHMF Website- Radio channel (Voice of Vietnam – VOV) (live interview)

- No actual supporting tool for forecaster in nowcasting!

First Challenge in 2010First Challenge in 20101000 years Anniversary of Hanoi Captital (01st – 10th October, 2010)NCHMF and AMO coordinate implementationDetails:- 15 automatic raingauges and 02 temporary AWSs in Ba Đình and Mỹ Đình areas- Test period: 20th Sep – 30th Sep, 2010- In normal conditions:

- Warning issued every 6 hours - Information sent directly to Local Organization Committee via email and fax

- In thunderstorm/ heavy rain conditions:- Warning issued every 0.5 - 1hours- Information was published on NCHMF website and VOV radio channel also

Việt Trì radar’s image 01Việt Trì radar’s image 01stst Oct 2010 Oct 2010

First Idea of Nowcasting First Idea of Nowcasting ImplementationImplementation

- Attending “Radar and Nowcasting Workshop” in Cairns, Australia, 1-4 Aug 2007 hosted by BoM and Gematronik-Working with Mr. Tom Yoshida, retired Meteorologist in charge of Guam Meteorology Department in 02 radar interpretation training workshop in Hanoi (2005 and 2008)- Nowcast experiment in 2010- 2010 – 2012 Modernization Project of HMS on:

- Observation network- automatic stations (focus on Hanoi area)- 4 – 5 doppler radars (new and upgrade)

- Telecommunication system- Data processing and archive system- Regional/ city NWP models- Forecasting Technology-…

Hopefully, all data will be available for operational system!

NCHMF need a tool for nowcasting! I suggested VHMS to use TITAN and/or TIFS

Related ProjectsRelated Projects

1. VHMS and FMI project (PROMOSERV) on: • Maintenance and calibration of automatic weather

stations, • use of radars, • and career development of personnel

2. VHMS and KMA project on:• Forecaster’s Analysis System (FAS) for Vietnam• Typhoon join-Research in which KMA support Vietnam

TAPS-2 (Typhoon Analysis and Prediction System)3. 2010 – 2012 Modernization project of VHMS4. …

Suggestion for Next StepsSuggestion for Next Steps

1. FMI did a good review and assess about current status of VHMS nowcasting system

2. FMI is going to do some training courses of radar using and interpreting in 2011

3. What should be done next?• More training with real events of Vietnam after

modernization project (when radars, AWS, automatic raingauge and NWP products… are available)

• Improve nowcasting system in Vietnam from National to Regional and even Provincial levels by setting up a easy-to-use system.

• Radar data sharing between neighbour countries.

Thank you and Best Thank you and Best wishes!wishes!