REDE DE ESTAÇÕES METEOROLÓGICAS AUTOMÁTICAS DA DRAPALG

History
In the ends of the Seventies, through the initiative of the Agricultural Forecast and Warning Service, a sector of agricultural meteorology in the “Direcção Regional de Agricultura do Algarve (DRAALG) / Ministério da Agricultura, do Desenvolvimento Rural e das Pescas (MADRP)” was created, which made use of conventional meteorological stations. With the technological evolution, on this type of equipment, it was possible to find in the market  new alternatives, that they had come to give effective reply to an ample set of necessities. These sophisticated equipment allowed to give more data, with more precision and easy access, they also had a better adaptation in terms of application of forecast models. Conscientious of the necessity to modify the existing situation, the “DRAALG”, through the area of the Plant Protection, initiated the process of reconversion of the conventional stations for the automatic ones.

The Net
Currently this net is constituted for 12 stations, having as main objective the attainment of meteorological data that can serve of base to the technical questions, related with agriculture, the models of forecast of occurrence of pests and diseases of the cultures are combined in this scope, calculation of irrigation necessities,
fenological evolution, etc. In this phase the gotten data is already available, so that the different interested ones can use it (Farmers, Associations, Technician, Universities, etc..).

The AWS
Each station is mainly equipped with a logger, the circuits of power (solar panel), protection and communication (modem), and several sensors: temperature and relative humidity of the air, speed and wind direction, solar radiation, precipitation, underground temperature, leaf humidity and the station also as the algorithm that allows the calculation of the potential evapotranspiration. Daily, the collected data is automatically transferred via GSM from all the net to the central station (PC), located in the headquarters of the DRAPALG in Faro.

Protocols
As example of contribution with other entities, we can mention the existence of a protocol of contribution between DRAPALG and “Centro Operativo e de Tecnologia de Regadio (COTR)”, for emission of acknowledgments of irrigation (calculated values of evapotranspiration in some cultures) on a web page, and in development, the creation of a national database, in the headquarters of the “Direcção Geral de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural (DGADR), ex "Direcção Geral de Protecção das Culturas" (DGPC) / Serviço Nacional Avisos Agrícolas (SNAA)”.

Future
Being considered as a Service of public utility that is in a phase of consolidation of the structures, equipment and formation of staff, in a future perspective, we want to continue the consolidation /uniformization and innovation of this net in technical terms, equipment, human specialization and procedures. The installation of more stations of this nature, in strategical places, in order to cover of, in the best possible form the Region of the Algarve in agrometeorological terms, is also a possible measure to be taken.

In the "4th ICEAWS - International Conference on Experiences with Automatic Weather Station", that took place in Lisbon/Portugal (24-26 May 2006), was presented the paper "The Net of Automatic Meteorological Stations of the “Direcção Regional de Agricultura do Algarve (DRAALG)”, it was intended in this presentation to effect a description and characterization of the net, becoming more clear its understanding on the part of the interested ones, in this thematic.

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