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World's HighestWeather Station

T he China MeteorologicalAdministration has chosen

the Vaisala HydroMetTM DataCollection and Processing Sys-tem MILOS520 for the organiza-tion's latest project. In 2005, 41MILOS520 automatic weatherstations will be installed in theTibet Autonomic Region.Amongst the chosen locations isQuomolangma, better known asMount Everest. The MILOS520will contribute to the under-standing of atmospheric and en-vironmental change. It will alsoprovide a useful meteorologicalservice, particularly to localtourism and all those interestedin mountaineering. Vaisala looksforward to being on top of theworld together with our part-ners! ●

T he Vaisala South East AsiaDistributor Meeting was

held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysiain October 2004. More than 20distributors from 11 countries –Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,Vietnam, Laos, Philippines, In-donesia, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwanand South Korea – participated

in the Meeting.The three-day event includ-

ed product presentations andnews from all product areaswithin Vaisala Measurement Sys-tems, Aviation and Hydromete-orology. In exchange, the dis-tributor participants providedan update on the current mar-

ket situation, ongoing projects,and future business outlook intheir respective countries.

According to the partici-pants, the meeting was very use-ful and enjoyable. The theme ofthe meeting was ”Let's work to-gether”. And we certainly will.●

South East Asia Distributor Meeting Held in Kuala Lumpur

More than 20 distributorsfrom 11 countriesparticipated in the VaisalaSouth East AsiaDistributor Meeting, heldin Kuala Lumpur.

The Vaisala HydroMet™ Data Collection and Processing SystemMILOS520 will be on top of the world at Mount Everest.

Briefly Noted

Fourth EMS AnnualMeeting

F ollowing the first three EMSAnnual Meetings in Bu-

dapest, Brussels and Rome, the4th Annual Meeting of the Euro-pean Meteorological Societywas held in Nice, France from26-30 September 2004. An inte-gral part and partner of theMeeting was the European Con-ference on Applied Climatology(ECAC).

In its over 50 sessions, sym-posia, group meetings andworkshops, the Meeting orga-nizers hosted some 450 partici-pants. Topics and themes includ-ed Instruments and methods ofobservations, Atmosphere andthe water cycle, Applied clima-tology, Computing in earth sci-ences, and Information provi-sion and education. Vaisala wasone of the Meeting exhibitorsand a workshop organizer.

The next EMS Annual Meet-ing, together with the EuropeanConference on Applications ofMeteorology (ECAM) will beheld in Utrecht, Netherlands, 12-16 September 2005. ●

Vaisala was one of the exhibitors atthe 4th Annual Meeting of theEuropean Meteorological Society inNice.

38 167/2005

Vaisala at the BritishGrand Prix

T he prequalifying session ofthe 2004 British Grand Prix

at Silverstone took place underthreatening dark clouds. Thefirst one-hour session in themorning sets the running orderfor the official qualifying sessionin the afternoon. Nobody waskeen to set a quick time, as thatwould mean they would be lastto take to the track in the actualqualifying session – and risk be-ing caught in an expected cloud-burst. Ross Brawn, Ferrari's Tech-nical Director noted that “ourweather forecast predicted rainfor the second half of the quali-fying session, therefore we didnot want to risk being amongthe last out on the track” (TheTimes, July 12, 2004). Jenson But-ton bravely ventured onto thecircuit, after BAR had sent a heli-copter into the skies to report onthe speed of the weather frontmoving towards the area.

Weather sensitive helicopter operations

Helicopters have always beenused extensively to ferry peoplein and out of the circuit at Silver-stone, due to its location in themiddle of the country. ATCLasham Ltd, which has a heavy jetmaintenance facility at LashamAirfield, has become involved inoperating the temporary helicop-

ter landing at Silverstone. Theoperation has become so largethat on race day it is the busiestairfield in Europe involving at

least 25 Air Traffic Controllers,passenger handlers, fire crew andmany other people. It also re-quires specialized equipment for

radio transmissions and weatherreporting.

Due to the large number ofhelicopters operating in a smallarea, there are strict entry and ex-it routes as well as weather min-im. The weather limits mostly de-pend on visibility and cloudheight. In previous years, cloudheight has been obtained by ask-ing the pilots of inbound aircraft.Needless to say, this method is notvery accurate. James Ford fromATC Lasham Ltd identified theneed for a compact, lightweightand quickly deployable AutomaticWeather Station to support broadsensor capability. Vaisala was cho-sen as the equipment provider.

The Vaisala TacMet™ Tacti-cal Meteorological ObservationSystem MAWS201M proved theperfect solution. It is capable ofmonitoring two general types ofenvironmental parameters: me-teorological parameters (wind,air temperature, humidity, pres-sure, precipitation accumula-tion) and aviation support para-meters (cloud height and cover-age, visibility/precipitation type,thunderstorm/lightning). ATCLasham is now able to providepilots with much more accuratecurrent observations and there-by offer a more efficient service.According to the companyspokesman James Ford ”Vaisalaequipment is always a promi-nent feature at any ATC LashamLtd temporary heliport.” ●

P ilots, planes and wind mea-surement equipment were

put to test at the Nordic Preci-sion Flying Championships, heldin Pori, Finland, on 3-4 July 2004.

An important part of theNordic Precision Flying Champi-onships is the precision landingcompetition. This measures thepilot's ability to land the planein different ways and under dif-ferent conditions. The landingsare performed at a mini-runwaymarked on the normal runway.

The speed and direction ofwind are important factors to betaken into consideration whenlanding a plane. An aircraft isnormally directed to land intowind, as it will reduce the land-ing distance as well as the wearand tear on the brake pads.However, sometimes a crosswindcomponent exists. Crosswind iswind at an angle of 90 degreesto the runway at the speed of 8knots or more. It is always im-portant to know the crosswind

component, especially in a land-ing test competition.

To help create a successfulevent, Vaisala donated a suit-able wind measurement systemconsisting of a combined windsensor and digital wind displayto the Finnish organizationTarkkuuslentourheilijat Ry, amember of the Finnish Aeronau-tical Association. The wind mea-surement system was successful-ly used for precision landings atthe Nordic Precision Flying

Championships, and will be usedin the future at landing competi-tions in Finland and other loca-tions. ●

Vaisala at The Nordic Precision Flying Championships

The Vaisala TacMet™ Tactical Meteorological Observation SystemMAWS201M proved the perfect solution for the weather sensitive helicopteroperations at Silverstone

Vaisala donated a windmeasurement system to theorganizers of the Nordic PrecisionFlying Championships.

Briefly Noted

T he Romanian Meteorologi-cal Service (ANM) celebrat-

ed its 120th anniversary inBucharest on 20-21 September,2004. ANM is one of the oldestnational meteorological serviceorganizations in Europe.

The festivities took place atPark Hotel Bucharest, followinga visit to the National Meteoro-logical Administration and theofficial opening of the newbuilding for the RomanianSchool of Meteorology.

The event was at-tended by many na-tional meteorologicalservices' representa-tives and other impor-tant operators in themeteorological field,including EUMETSAT,NWS/NOAA USA, CMAChina, Met O UK, DWD,as well as met servicesfrom Eastern Europeand the Balkan area.The Finnish Meteoro-logical Institute andVaisala were pleased to

take part in the celebrations.Vaisala's successful partner-

ship with ANM started over 15years ago. The nationwide sur-face weather network and thelightning detection network inRomania are provided byVaisala. ANM and Vaisala arecurrently working together toexpand the existing surfaceweather network.

Vaisala wishes ANM everysuccess for next 120 years of me-teorological service. ●

V aisala Aviation Weatherwas happy to host a group

of 17 guests from China on their3-week visit to Vaisala’s head-quarters in Helsinki, Finland. Thevisiting group consisted of rep-resentatives from the Civil Avia-tion Authority of China (CAAC),building on their long-termpartnership with Vaisala. Boththe administrative and technicalbodies of the Chinese aviationauthority were represented.

The main goal of the visitwas to provide the guests withcomprehensive training on boththe MIDAS IV AutomatedWeather Observing System(AWOS) and the Low LevelWindshear Alert System (LL-WAS). The training covered in-stallation, hardware structures,software configurations, sam-pling and calculation methods,as well as maintenance and trou-bleshooting. In-depth training indifferent sensor types was alsoprovided, as was information onVaisala's operating models andICAO regulations. The guests al-

so had the chance to exploreHelsinki and Finnish cuisine, andvisit Sweden's capital Stockholmby boat.

The 3-week training wasbeneficial to both parties as itstrengthened mutual under-standing of each other's opera-tions and the ability to optimizethe benefits of cooperation. Ad-vanced systems training alsopromotes local know-how andenables the effective use of re-sources. ●

Contact the Vaisala News TeamFor subscriptions, cancellations, feedback and change of address,

please contact the Vaisala News team by sending an email to

vaisala.news@vaisala.com

Thank you for your interest.

Marikka MetsoEditor-in-Chief

120 Years of Meteorological Service in Romania

17 representatives from the CivilAviation Authority of Chinavisited Vaisala headquarters inHelsinki, Finland.

The Romanian Meteorological Service's 120th

anniversary celebrations were attended by manyimportant operators in the meteorological field.

Chinese Aviation Authorities Visit Vaisala

Briefly Noted