A photo of a group of meteorologists with a 3D-PAWS in Zimbabwe.

Benefits of 3D-PAWS

The Need for Automatic Weather Stations (AWS)

Between 1999 and 2018, hydrometeorological disasters affected more than 4 billion people globally, caused more than 500,000 deaths, and resulted in an estimated $2.2 trillion in economic damages (source). These events often devastate communities in rural and data-sparse regions.

A graphic showing the data from the USAID Hydrometeorlogical Hazards 20222 report.

Expanding the density of observation in rural areas saves lives and livelihoods.  Increasing the number of automatic weather stations (AWS), particularly in data-sparse, remote regions provides observations to create higher resolution regional forecasts and provide improved early warnings of high-impact weather events. 

 

Current AWS Challenges

The number of automatic weather stations (AWS) in remote regions is slowly growing, facilitating more localized weather forecasting and earlier warning of high-impact weather events. However, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) in many rural areas lack the funds or human resources to purchase, install, operate, and maintain equipment on a wide scale.

Without proper financial and service support, AWSs are often operational for a short period but—due to a lack of support, spare parts, and maintenance—will eventually fail without any mechanism to repair the station.

 

3D-PAWS: A Low-cost, Sustainable Solution

To expand observation networks, the COMET developed the low-cost, high-quality 3D-PAWS through funding from the US National Weather Service (NWS) International Affairs Office (IAO).

A list of the different benefits of using a 3D-PAWS system.

3D-PAWS provides a low-cost, sustainable solution for expanding weather observation networks. 

The 3D-PAWS initiative was designed to overcome the main roadblocks for expanding weather observation networks: cost, sustainability, and human resources. 

Cost: 3D-PAWS uses low-cost, reliable microsensors and components that can be fabricated locally for a cost of $400-500 USD. 

Easy maintenance: The parts for 3D-PAWS can be quickly “reprinted” for easy replacement if lost, stolen, or broken. 

Human resources: The COMET ICDP provides customized training, manuals and documentation, and other resources to enable local agencies to take ownership in building and maintaining their 3D-PAWS. 

The system uses a Raspberry Pi single-board computer for data acquisition, data processing, and communications. Real-time sensor data is available on the Cloud-Hosted Real-time Data Services for Geosciences (CHORDS) project data servers and is accessible to anyone at anytime.

3D-PAWS is uniquely designed with data-sparse communities in mind. It allows forecasters and emergency managers in these countries access to critical hydrometeorological information to make sound decisions pertaining to weather hazards.