The province of Siquijor will soon have a Doppler radar that will help boost the country?s weather forecasting capability, according to state weather bureau Pagasa.
At the recent Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management summit in the province, Pagasa administrator Vicente Malano said the government has picked Siquijor as the location since it has not weather station yet. Also, the facility will complement Cebu City?s Doppler radar and serve as back-up as well.
Pagasa-Visayas director and chief meteorologist Oscar Tabada in an earlier report said the major improvements in weather forecasting is attributed to the installation of at least 15 Doppler radars across the country, costing some P100 million each.
He said a budget has already been allocated for the Doppler radar intended for Siquijor. This will be the third radar in the Visayas region that can also monitor the weather systems affecting Northern Mindanao.
The proposed radar, according to Tabada, is a specialized one that makes use of the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance.
The Doppler effect is an increase or decrease in the frequency of sound, light or other waves as the source and observer move toward or away from each other, he explained.
Tabada said the radar can cover the Visayas and parts of Mindanao. ?So if the ones in Cebu or Mindanao becomes unusable, Pagasa can still get data from the Doppler in Siquijor radar,” he said.
Tabada said that with the Doppler radars, Pagasa has been issuing timely weather forecasts with accuracy. He noted that based on the feedback from local chief executives and disaster management officials, forecasts of incoming rain showers, storms, cyclones and gale warning issued hours earlier for specific areas have been proven correct.
According to him, the Philippines is being visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year.
The country, according to the experts, is situated below the equator which makes it a tropic that is prone to strong cyclones, and is in fact within the ring of fire, a string of volcanoes which on a daily basis produce eruptions felt or unfelt, Tabada said. — PIA
