DA BSWM to put AWS

In Malinao Dam area

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol June 21 (PIA)—The Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Soils and Water Management (DA-BSWM) is giving out to Bohol an automated weather station (AWS) to be placed in Malinao Dam, revealed DA research specialist Cecile Opada.

Speaking in her capacity as Bohol Cloud Seeding Technical Working Group spokesperson, Opada explained how AWS help researchers and the state weather bureau gather reliable “on-the-ground” data needed to validate the effects of climate change and the interventions, during extreme weathers.

AWS are an integrated system of components that are used to measure, record, and often transmit weather parameters such as temperature, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, and precipitation, for a variety of operational and research data for specific purposes.

AWS have weather sensors that measure wind speed and direction through an anemometer, a barometer for measuring atmospheric pressure, instruments that measure precipitation, humidity, soil moisture, lightning sensor, ceilometer for measuring cloud height, and these information are integrated in data loggers which are networked and linked to data centers for consolidation and interpretation.

The idea of AWS surfaced as Bohol acquired some P5 million cloud seeding fund from the DA Support for Rice Production, and was intended to be used for cloud seeding so that farmers can prepare their rice lands from this wet cropping season.

The Provincial Government, which has been preparing for the same activity since 2023 however was not able to procure the same, as it found no supplier willing to conduct cloud seeding using a very small amount of P2.5 M.

With provincial government funds at stake, political critics and election losers who intend for another bid at elections muddle the issue by seeking scientific proofs of the effectivity of the expensive cloud seeding operations.

Questions as to why the cloud seeding is still pursued when the state weather bureau has announced the onset of the rainy season and why tinker with nature in inducing the rain to fall, continue to resound, in the absence of scientific data, which the AWS can provide.

“The cloud seeding operation that we have now is much different than the previous cloud seeding operations,” Opada, who sits at the Cloud Seeding Operations Center at the Panglao Airport said.

Already the sixth could seeding operations that Bohol contracted since 2016, this year’s operations use satellite imagery instead of cloud spotters stationed in different areas in the province.

With satellite imaging as guide, the TWG charts the airplane’s flight plan in such a way that it prioritizes to seed the thicker clouds to induce them to fall within an hour or less to a specific area or watershed.

The flight plan is logged and can easily be verified, but as to the question of how much rainfall fell in a specific area, that can be a data available as soon as an AWS is placed in the area to monitor these data, Opada explained.

On this, she asks the Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Officer to lobby for the provincial government to set up AWS, which can also guide farmers on their timetables in preparing their fields and communities in mitigating the effects of extreme weather brought by climate change. (PIABohol)

WHILE ITS VERIFIABLE. While the rains can be verified if these are results of cloud seeding or are natural rains, researcher and agritechnician Cecile Opada said an automated weather station placed in certain locations can actually help verify if these interventions are really effective and efficient. (PIABohol)