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Sharjah: Every weather fluctuation during the past seven decades has been recorded by the Sharjah Meteorological Office.
The office was built in 1933 at the airport in Al Mahatta, and was run by the British company International Air Radio Limited (IAL).
"I joined the airport when it was still in Al Mahatta in 1976 and was an observer while it was run by the British company. After they left, we moved to our new premises at Sharjah International Airport in January 1977. This was the first meteorological office in the UAE and we still have all the records and historical data of Sharjah since 1933," says Abraham Jacob, meteorological officer, Department of Civil Aviation in Sharjah.
The British company managed the meteorological office until 2000, when it was placed under the wing of the Department of Civil Aviation at the airport.
The number of team members has been kept constant as long as Jacob could remember. "There have always been a total of 11 members working three different shifts, including the officer at the meteorological office. But there are plans to expand the team by 2009 to cope with the workload," says Jacob. The office monitors the weather in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates and the aim of the department is to later set up an office especially for the Northern Emirates, amounting to a total of 16 team members.
Old tools
"I took over the challenge after 2000 because up until that moment, the British were running the department. Every year I prepare an annual report, called the Climatological Report, which is our encyclopaedia," explains Jacob. He currently heads the department.
The "encyclopaedia" documents all the historic weather information, which shows that the highest rainfall in Sharjah was in December 1944 at 174mm, while the hottest month was in June 1978 when 49.2C was recorded. The lowest temperature ever recorded was 2.5C in February 1991, points out Jacob.
Over the years, the weather has certainly become a lot drier and hotter, which can also be attributed to the increase in concrete buildings in the city. The tools used to monitor the weather have been changing with time and the meteorological office still keeps the old tools on display. "More than 500 school children visit the office every month and I give them a detailed lecture on how the machinery has changed."
The anemometer is used to measure the wind speed and the direction, which has two dials that display the knot speed. The computer system was introduced in 1988 and was upgraded ten years later, which shows the wind direction and speed on a computer monitor. Planes lands against the wind, so that information is very important. Three anemometers are placed on the runway, one in the middle and one at each end and the information is then sent to the computer.
Visibility
"We now have an automatic weather station in the middle of the airport on a pole. The automatic station reads the temperature, humidity levels and pressure, so now we can read it all from the weather station," says Jacob.
"Thirty years ago we used a thermometer to record the temperature and we would read it every half hour."
The atmospheric pressure is read from a barometer and that is very important for landing and take-off. "We still have the machine from 1943 that used to draw a graph, which is still in good condition," he says.
For the visual range on the runway, Jacob points out that there are now three machines on the 4,700 metre stretch of the runway that displays a graph on the computer. A cloud base recorder is on the runway that sends signals and measures the height of clouds to another computer because visibility is important while landing or taking off.
"Before, we used to take an umbrella and measure the rainfall with a jar, but now we have an automatic rain recorder that will tip to one side for every 2.5 millilitres of rain."
In one month, the meteorological centre provides the weather information to more than 2,300 pilots.
"We prepare a forecast table for the pilot's destination and they are given to aeroplanes that pass through Sharjah International Airport, or upon request."
On top off all the employees' workload, they also have to follow a half hour deadline where the forecast for all the major cities in the world are jotted down.
By 2009, the department aims to have a five star meteorological office. Right now the office is located behind the departure terminal next to the control tower, "but once we move to our new location we will be near the aircraft and be facing the runway," says Jacob.
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