The ability to capture critical information about tropical cyclones has been boosted with the addition of two new weather stations.
The weather stations have been incorporated into the analysis code of the Surface Weather Information Relay and Logging Network (SWIRLNet) system as part of Natural Hazards Research Australia’s project, Streamlining SWIRLnet data acquisition, analysis, storage and dissemination procedures. In recent weeks the project team comprising Dr Matthew Mason (University of Queensland), Dr Korah Parackal and Dr Saira Viqar (James Cook University) have been busy preparing for the cyclone season and expanding their capacity by integrating two new weather stations into the SWIRLNet and have finalised mock deployment of the towers to ensure they are in order for any deployments this cyclone season.
Having more weather stations means that more data can be captured from across the impact zone of a cyclone. Each time new data is collected the team will gain valuable insights which can be used to construct accurate vulnerability and post-wind field models, allowing for better estimates of risk to be made. The improved collection of wind data is important to better understand infrastructure damage.
The research team is currently working on converting existing code to allow tower location terrain and topographic information data to be automatically extracted, meaning real time data can be provided to disaster management agencies, informing response and recovery activities.
In the future, this project will develop an open-access repository for all high-time-resolution data captured during previous and future deployments of the SWIRLNet. Broad access to real-time data will allow the public, disaster management agencies and infrastructure operators to better quantify the winds experienced during cyclones to that they may plan better for future cyclones.
SWIRLNet is a network of now eight portable weather stations deployed in advance of landfalling tropical cyclones across the Queensland coast. Initially used as part of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC’s Improving the resilience of existing housing to severe wind events project, the research is now being extended through Natural Hazards Research Australia. The enhancements will provide real-time information about tropical cyclone winds as storms make landfall, capture research-grade wind data that will enable researchers to better understand near-surface wind fields and provides observations of wind speed that can be mapped to observe post-storm damage.