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The device mounted on a mobile robot enables meteorological measurements in the robot’s vicinity in terms of wind speed and direction, precipitation, atmospheric pressure, temperature, and relative humidity. The weather sensor sends data to the operator’s console in real time.
Observational data collected by doppler radar, radiosondes, weather satellites, buoys, and other instruments is fed into computerised NWS numerical forecast models. The models use equations, as well as new and historical weather data, to provide forecast guidance to our meteorologists.
The Global Weather data collection robot market accounted for $XX Billion in 2022 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2023 to 2030.
Things started stirring inside the truck-size box that sat among melting piles of snow at the airport in Fairbanks, Alaska, as robot-launched weather balloons hastened the demise of remote stations. Inside, software checked instruments for temperature, humidity, and pressure; a tray slid into place; and a nozzle began filling a large balloon with gas.
Finally, the roof of the box yawned open, and a weather balloon with instruments dangling took off into the sunny afternoon. The entire launch was initiated with the push of a button at a National Weather Service office 5 kilometres away (NWS).
The flight was uneventful, and it was just one of hundreds of twice-daily balloon launches around the world that radio back vital data for weather forecasts. However, the majority of those balloons are launched by humans; the robotic launchers that are being deployed across Alaska are proving divisive.
The auto launchers, according to NWS, will save money and free up staff to work on more pressing issues. Employee union representatives, however, question their dependability and say they will hasten the demise of Alaska’s remote weather offices, where forecasting duties and hours have already been reduced.
“The autolauncher is just another nail in their coffin,” says one observer.Auto Launchers have been used for decades around the world, but NWS has only recently begun to use them.
