**Manzanillo, Mexico**

**76654**

**May 25-28, 2005**

Observatorio Meteorologico

Unidad Habitacional Padre Hidalgo

Calle 9 s/n

C Postal 28200

Manzanillo, Col

Mexico

**Location and Description of Manzanillo, Colimo**:

The Manzanillo Observatory 76654 is not located at an airport. The
airport is roughly 40 kilometers northwest of the City of Manzanillo.
The city is on the Bahia of Manzanillo and is a major container port for
Mexico. A chain of very tall and sharp hills or mountains reaching up to
about 1500 feet form the eastern border of this seaport.

**Location and Description of the Surface and/or Upper Air Observatory**

The observatory is located on a peninsula in the southwest corner of the
city between the Gulf of Cuyutlan and the Pacific Ocean. A moderately
busy street oriented North-South is within 75 feet of the west side of
the Instrument Field. Further to the west is a range of hills or small
mountains of about 1300 feet in height. The Pacific Ocean borders the
west side of these hills. The Gulf of Cuyutlan is roughly one half mile
to the east of the Instrument field. Hills or small mountains of about
1300 feet are North and South of the instrument field but far enough
away (2 miles) so they do not really hamper the flow of air.

The latitude and longitude of the observatory was verified by using a
GPS positioning system. The contractor was assured the height of the
cistern of the barometer was accurately measured several years ago and
has not changed. The height of the Rain Gauge is estimated to be within
a foot of the height of the barometer. Special measurements to determine
the height of the rain gauge would be expensive and not practical.

During the early 1930s an observatory was located a mile or so towards
the Northwest and on top of one of the hills recorded as 92 Meters above
mean sea level. During 1941 that observatory was abandoned and a new one
became operation in an observers home roughly two miles north of the
current observatory and at roughly 3 or 4 meters above sea level. In
1965 the observatory was established at its present location and has
operated since that time without interruption with the Oct-December
1959. At that time an unnamed hurricane struck the city and caused
severe damage and disabling the observatory. The original observational
records dating back to the early 1930s still exist at the current
observatory and are in fragile condition. The observatory began the
upper air radiosonde program during 1970 using the GMD system.

It is likely the observatory will remain in its current location and
will be supported by the Servicio Meteorologico Nacional (SMN) for many
years to come. The Director of SMN assured the contractor there are no
plans to discontinue support to or move the observatory.

**Operation**

Normally this observatory is open and operational 24 hours per day and
transmits the 8 main surface synoptic reports and the 1200Z Radiosonde
Observation. They have a staff of six people that do both surface and
upper air observations. There is not an electronics technician
permanently stationed at Manzanillo. Because of staffing limitations the
observatory reduces it operational hours during certain months of the
year, namely the holiday and vacation periods.

**SURFACE OBSERVING INFORMATION**

**General Information**

Budgetary restrictions do not allow the SMN to maintain full staffing at
certain observatories. In order to offset the bad effects of this
restriction the SMN is planning to supplement some these surface
observatories with automatic weather stations, allowing observations to
be taken during late night and early morning hours. The specific sites
will be identified at a later date.

**Description of the Instrument Field**

The official Instrument Field **(**IF**)** is roughly 20 square feet in
area with another 20 square foot area attached on the east side that is
not in use. The surface is a mixture of rough and short ground cover and
exposed earth. A chain link fence of about 8 feet tall surrounds the IF.
There are no tall obstructions nearby that could impede or influence the
flow of air over the IF. There is no evidence of potential water
puddling within the area of the IF. There may be some contamination of
the air over the IF because of automobile traffic along the street
beside the IF. However the contractor does not believe there is
sufficent heat generated by the traffic or anything else that could
influence the measurement of the sensors.

**Instrumental Shelter**

The Instrument Shelter is the standard type and is approximately 3 feet
wide by 18 inches deep and is plenty spacious. The shelter is made of
louvered wood and is white although it does need to be painted. The
floor of the Instrument Shelter is 1.65 meters above the ground. The
shelter is a few feet away from the south side of the IF. The shelter is
adequately exposed to the elements.

The official Psychrometer, Maximum and Minimum Thermometers are properly
mounted within the Instrument Shelter. The Psychrometer is a Lambrecht
composed of a dry and wet bulb thermometer with a muslim wick
permanently bathed distilled water. The Psychrometer is not artificially
aspirated. The Lambrecht Maximum and Minimum thermometers are properly
mounted in a horizontal plane above the Psychrometer. The contractor
made repeated comparisons with a traveling standard thermometer
(psychrometer) and found the instruments to be within acceptable limits.
The Contractor is satisfied that the observatory is making accurate
temperature and humidity measurements.

There is a thermograph and a hydrograph as well as a dial hygrometer
located in the shelter. These are not official and are not used in
calculating the CLIMAT message.

The rain gauge is a standard collecting instrument mounted on a cement
pedestal with the 6 inch orifice approximately 6 ½ feet above the floor
of the IF. The elevated placement of the gauge prevents splashing of
water into the gauge. The orifice is the large end of a funnel type
collector with the bottom orifice being approximately ½ inch in
diameter. The water is collected in a small vessel below the funnel and
is well protected against evaporation. The measurement is made by the
standard procedure of pouring the water into a graduated clear plastic
vessel and easily read by the observer. The gauge is level and is
supported by the cement pedestal to keep it from tipping during high
winds. The gauge is roughly 3 feet from the west side of the IF. The
fence is less than two feet taller than the top of the gauge. The fence
is chain link and does not influence the flow of air over the gauge. The
Contractor is satisfied the observatory is making accurate rainfall
measurements.

There are two other recording rain gauges that are used for local
purposes and are not used for CLIMAT purposes.

A standard size evaporation pan is located centrally in the IF. There is
no instrument to measure the miles of wind that pass over the
evaporation pan

.

There is a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder that is properly exposed
and the recording cardboard collars are accurately positioned.

The wind velocity instruments are mounted approximately 12 meters above
the Observer's office and is composed of a 3 cup anemometer and pointing
wind vane. Need [type brand etc calibration etc etc]{.mark}

**Station Pressure**

The official barometer is a Nova-Princo made in Southhampton,
Pennsylvania. The height of the cistern of this mercurial barometer has
been measured to be 3.41 meters above mean sea level. This barometer
replaced a mercurial Tonnelot of Paris barometer sometime during 1993.

**Operational Practices**

Five or ten minutes prior to each hour, the observer visits the
instrument field and collects the data needed for the observational
record. The data is recorded by hand on a standard type observational
log. The observer manually types the headers and synoptic message on a
computer which transmits it via internet to Mexico City SMN headquarters
where it is then entered onto the WMO GTS. The data is archived on the
computer for use in creating and transmitting the CLIMAT message to SMN
for further distribution.

**Some statistics of the Surface Program**

Washington DC, NCEP routinely receives approximately 150 to 200 surface
observations per month from Manzanillo. During the period only y CLIMAT
reports are missing at NCDC. The contractor will work with SMN to send
these CLIMAT messages to NCDC. The missing CLIMAT messages are: Jan &
Nov 2001, Jan & Nov 2002, August 2003, and February & December 2004.

**UPPER AIR OBSERVATION INFORMATION**

The observatory began the upper air program during 1970 with the support
of NOAA/NWS using the old GMD1a, VIZ radiosondes, and 600 gram
balloons**.** On October 1, 1998 the observatory switched to the Vaisala
DigiCORA I system. The observatory routinely performs the daily 1200Z
observation. The balloon is launched approximately one hour before 1200Z
or 1100Z which is 5:00AM in Manzanillo. They are using the Vaisala
DigiCORA I system along with RS80-400MHz radiosondes and 350 gram
balloons. The balloons are part of their contract with Vaisala Corp. The
wind finding system is the GPS type. Both antennas are mounted atop the
office of the observatory with workstation in the main office.

The balloon shelter is very large with double doors facing east and
west. The ceiling is high enough to accommodate very very large
balloons. The Inflation room is in excellent condition and very clean
and orderly.

They use a Stuart 7 cell Electrolyser that is in excellent shape for a
very old piece of equipment. This was donated by NOAA 30 or more years
ago. The staff indicated the generator is reliable and seems to work
properly. They do not have a spare pump for the generator which could
present a problem if the primary fails. They use a Culligan reverse
osmosis water cleansing system with another set of filters in line to
the generator.

The old GMD dome is still located on top of the balloon shelter with the
remains of the old GMD antenna unit inside. The shelter is in good
condition and could be used for other purposes it the need ever arises.

The use of 350 gram balloons typically results in lower heights for the
sounding. The automatic turn-off mechanism of the inflation nozzle is
broken, so the observers use their judgement in determining when the
balloon has enough gas in it. This practice is accepted in many
instances, however in order to try and increase the height of balloon
burst, the Contractor feels the observatory should acquire a new balloon
weigh-off system and resume the standard balloon filling practice. The
below graph shows San Jose, Costa Rica averaging much better heights
using the same equipment. Balloon burst is the most common reason for
flight termination for both sites.

![](media/image1.wmf)

During the summer months the winds from the North become strong during
launch time and the observers have to over inflate the balloon in order
to increase the rate of ascent during the first minute. This is because
of the overhead wires and buildings near the launch site that the
balloon could hit unless it gets high very quickly. The contractor
believes the increased lift causes the balloon to burst early. The
observatory staff and the contractor are investigating this possibility.

**Operational Procedures**

The coded message is automatically transferred from the Vaisala work
station to the adjacent desktop computer and transmitted to Mexico City
SMN fo insertion onto the WMO GTS. This is a very good system that
discourages typographical and transcriptional errors. The production of
CLIMAT TEMP messages was reinstated during January 2005. The CLIMAT TEMP
messages for all the Mexican upper air observatories are created at SMN
headquarters using the SICA software.

**FUTURE OF THE RADIOSONDE PROGRAM**

Mexico has 16 upper air and nearly one hundred surface observatories.
Budget restrictions have caused the SMN to discontinue the operation
some of the upper air observatories and perhaps change support to
several of the surface observatories. Vaisala Corp. is discontinuing the
production of the RS-80 sonde which is currently used at the 11
operational upper observatories. The ground equipment at these sites
must be modified to accommodate the new Vaisala RS-92 radiosonde. This
modification is very expensive and is approximately \$20,000.00 per
site. The SMN has decided to do this modification to 6 observatories
beginning August 2, 2005. The remaining sites, including the GUAN
observatory in Manzanillo, will likely undergo this modification
sometime in late 2006 if funding permits. As of this date, May 2005, the
SMN has arranged for Manzanillo to have a sufficient supply of RS-80
sondes until the expected modification occurs.

**RECOMMENDATIONS**

Work with SMN to increase the average heights of the balloon soundings.
Investigate purchasing a balloon fill regulator/cut off system and a
spare pump for the Electrolyser system.