INTERMET, INC

7732 Castleisland Drive

Sarasota, FL 34240

USA

Phone + 941 378 1313

Business Phone/Fax + 941 379 3536

<Infotiempo@comcast.net>

**To:** Mr. Oscar Arango B.

WMO Sub Regional Office for the Americas

San Jose, Costa Rica

**Subject:** The following report describes the activities of the
contractor for the period September thru November 2004.

**In General:**

The Contractor has accomplished all the activities proposed for the
second period of the Proposal and Terms of Reference with the exception
of the missions to the Mexican Sites and San Andres Island.

**Specifically:**

The following summary of activities is in two parts, namely those
activities performed for the GUAN sites and those for the GSN sites.

**GUAN SITES (7)**

**On a daily basis, Monday through Friday, Intermet INC carefully
reviewed the THANKS2 REPORT generated by NOAA/NCEP Central Operations
for Data Management and Quality Assessment. See**
<http://www.ncep.noaa.gov/dmqab/qap/realtime/thanks/>

The contractor evaluated the results of the report in terms of whether
the site reported a full report or only a partial report.

If the daily report showed THANKS for that particular observation then
no action was taken

Daily report showing the site only reported groups TTAA, TTBB and PPBB
which are the mandatory and significant levels for Pressure/Height,
Temperature and Humidity as well as the winds aloft up to 100 Millibars
. If this occurred for 3 or 4 observations in succession then the
Contractor contacted the site to see why the observation was being
terminated at low levels. The Contractor would then work with the site
to correct the problem and resume normal operations.

Daily reports showing the site only reported TTAA which is just the
mandatory levels up to 100 millibars. This was acted on immediately by
the contractor in determining the problem and assisting in correcting
the problem.

The contractor dedicated a considerable amount of time into the above
activities and was very successful in supporting the GUAN sites. This
near realtime monitoring is essential in maintaining the integrity of
the GUAN network.

The contractor performed non-realtime monitoring of the same GUAN sites
in assessing the quality of the reports in terms of temperature,
heights, and winds. During the first week of each month the contractor
carefully reviewed and analyzed the Upper Air Inventories generated by
NOAA/NCEP. The contractor investigated the report for significant errors
in their observations including the parameters, Temperature, Height, and
Winds aloft. The number of observations rejected because of significant
errors was noted and the site was advised of these error and corrective
measure were discussed. Large departures in the selection and reporting
of significant levels in all three parameters were noted and discussed
with the particular observatory.

**MAINTENANCE SUPPORT**

The contractor identified a major error in the software of the upper air
computers at one site which may also exist at the other sites. This is
still being investigated. The contractor working with NOAA/NCEP
determined the pressure heights being reported at one observatory were
not hydrostatic. The contractor believes this holds true for three of
the other GUAN sites and this is currently being investigated. This is a
very time consuming investigation and will take several experts from
different organizations to act on this problem.

NOAA/NCEP identified a wind-bias error at one of the GUAN sites and had
been working for several months to correct the problem. NOAA/NCEP asked
the contractor for help and the contractor immediately determined the
cause of the problem and worked with the site to realign the antenna on
true north and eliminate the bias.

The Contractor worked for several months to reestablish the operation
and reporting of one of the GUAN upper sites. The site became silent in
January 2004 and through the efforts of the contractor it finally
resumed operations in mid-October 2004.

There were several other instances where the GUAN sites needed support
from the contractor to maintain the integrity of their operation. Some
requests were trivial and some were not.

**CIMAT TEMP REPORTS**

During the time period in question the contractor worked with the GUAN
sites and the Hadley Centre in the UK to increase the number of
observatories reporting the CLIMAT TEMP report and to review the quality
of those reports. Because of the efforts of the contractor all of the 7
GUAN sites are currently reporting the CLIMAT TEMP reports on a monthly
basis. The contractor dedicated a large amount of time and effort into
coordinating the exchange of these reports with the Hadley Center and
with Weather Records center in Asheville. Communications links with
NOAA/NCEP had to be established and all participants had to agree to
this exchange.

**GSN Sites (16)**

The realtime Monitoring of the exchange of synoptic reports from the 16
sites is not performed by the contractor. This would be too difficult
and time consuming for the contractor. However, monthly evaluation of
the site activities is performed and the sites are queried if there are
a significant number of missing observations.

There are several problems with the GSN network in terms of quality and
satisfying the requirements of the GCOS program. All of these problems
and recommendations were reported in the Contractor's first Report dated
September 28, 2004. Many of the solutions to these problems require
funding and funding is limited. Therefore the contractor is working with
GCOS and WMO authorities to prioritize the importance of the repairs to
ensure the limited funds are spent wisely.

The contractor has not performed missions to the Mexican Sites or to the
GSN site on San Andres Island. These missions have been delayed because
of timing problems with funding and availability of the appropriate
personal.

**CLIMAT Reports**

The September 28^th^ report still holds true for the status of CLIMAT
reports.

During the period in question the contractor accomplished the following
with regard to the CLIMAT reports:

Identified and helped resolve communications problems which led to the
resumption of CLIMAT and CLIMAT TEMP reports

Identified major communications problems which are being resolved to
allow GSN site to enter their Synops and Hourlies onto the GTS

Identified and helped resolve responsibilities and communications
problems between RTHs and GCOS centers that had caused loss of CLIMAT
reports.

Reviewed the CLIMAT data quality control procedures at the GSN sites and
made recommendations

Danny L.
Foster\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_January
7, 2005

Intermet, Inc.