Access to weather data will help scientists and engineers plan infrastructure Photo via Nebraskasc
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In the US, we have a whole TV channel dedicated to the weather. Predicting when and where storms will hit, winds will swirl, or frosts set in is old hat; and while not always precise, the predictions are certainly accurate enough for us to manage our municipal water supplies and for farmers to figure out what will happen with their crops. However, not every country across the globe has access to the meteorological data we take for granted. For engineers and professionals managing water supplies in developing countries but lack access to this kind of data, predicting the weather is much more problematic. That's why climate scientists are creating a manual for water use in countries with less access to information.
According to University of Massachusetts, Amherst, if one can't predict the weather, it can be tough to plan the use of everything from public water supplies to hydroelectric power generation. So, linking scientists in these areas with data available in developed parts of the world is vital. To do so, Casey M. Brown, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has developed a manual showing how the scientists can access this data and use it during decision-making processes.
The manual is an attempt to overcome problems such as a lack of training among scientists in these areas on how to use and understand climate information, which is needed for planning water projects, as well as the problem of weather patterns being viewed as a predictable annual event - the global climate is changing and with it the once well-understood and expected weather patterns.
By providing scientists and engineers with instructions on how to access, and more importantly, use weather data, scientists in developed countries can help them design and build systems and structures that work more effectively than otherwise possible.
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