**Site Survey: Gan, Maldives**

**7-12 October 2003**

**by Peter Budgen**

**Scope of Survey**

To report on the viability of Gan as a GUAN (Global Climate Observing
System (GCOS) Upper Air Network) station.

**General**

The Maldives is a small country that has very few resources of its own.
The most important one that has been recognised is that of tourism,
based on the excellence of the underwater scenery, and scope for other
watersport activities. To this end a large amount of effort has been put
into building up the necessary infrastructure from around 1973 with the
opening up of the first resort hotels in the Male area. Since then many
of the islands in the North and South Male Atolls have been developed as
tourist centres. In recent years other adjacent atolls have also started
to be developed.

With the facilities left by the RAF in 1976, Gan has long been regarded
as a site for development as a tourist centre with direct international
flights being possible there because of the long runway. However, effort
in using Gan since 1976 has centred around a number of garment factories
on the island, plus small-scale tourism based on the only hotel in the
atoll in the former Gan Sergeants Mess. Tourist access has been via
small feeder aircraft from Male. However, many of the facilities on Gan
have required replacement in recent years, much as a result of old age
as neglect.

Since my last visit to Gan in 1988 there has been something of a
noticeable economic renaissance in Addu Atoll with investment by the
Maldives Government in some major projects, including the provision of a
new electricity supply from a generating station, and commencement of
construction of a new deepwater harbour on Hittadu. A new, paved road
also now stretches from Gan in the south to the northern end of Hittadu,
some 15km in length. This road, opened in October 2002, is by far the
longest in the whole of the Maldives.

The local fishing industry has also been improved, with a number of
larger, motorised fishing boats. These are capable of being at sea
longer than just one day, rather than the small, traditional sailing
dhonis that have been used previously. A new small harbour has been
constructed on Maradu especially for these new boats, with two
government owned factory ships lying just offshore in the lagoon.

Work has already started on the construction of a new airport terminal
building on Gan, removal and replacement of the old fuel storage tanks,
and construction of a new, large tourist resort hotel on Willingilli,
the uninhabited island next to Gan. Longer term plans are already in
hand to develop other islands in the neighbouring atolls to the north of
Addu.

All this planned tourist-based activity will hopefully more than
compensate for the forthcoming closure of the garment factories on Gan
and their relocation to Sri Lanka.

It was most noticeable during this visit, in comparison to my previous
visit in 1988, that there was a definite air of relative prosperity in
Addu, with a wide variety of local shops, restaurants, satellite TV
antennas and cars or motorcycles.

**Maldives Meteorological Department**

Although I only had the chance to visit two offices, the National
Meteorological Centre (NMC) at Hulhule Airport, Male, and the observing
office on Gan, Addu Atoll, it would appear that the Maldives
Meteorological Department is well run. Both offices were clean, tidy and
reasonably well equipped for their respective purposes.

I last visited both offices in September 1988, and at once noticed the
positive difference between then and now. In particular the Gan office
has been refurbished and slightly enlarged. However, both offices had
fairly up to date equipment, especially the NMC, which has recently
acquired a Corobor SADIS system.

The Met Department had successfully persuaded the Airport Authority that
as SADIS is basically an aviation facility it would be more appropriate
if they were to purchase it, rather than the Met Department. Previously
the NMC had an ageing TCDL SADIS system, but this could no longer be
supported as the company had ceased operating. The new system utilised
the existing Matra-Marconi receiver, antenna and low noise amplifier.
All that was purchased in the end was an up to date computer and
software. A large monitor and printer were all sourced locally to
minimise the initial costs.

Apart from the old American Enterprise W100 windfinding radar, which has
not been operational for very many years, the only noted equipment
failure is with the chart recorder for the Vaisala wind system, where it
had taken a long time for Vaisala Finland to respond to requests by fax,
email and phone for a replacement printer head.

**Gan: Buildings**

Apart from the refurbished and extended main office, the first thing I
noticed was that the balloon filling building was no longer in position.
Where it had been was not only empty of any building, but the site had
been landscaped to remove any trace of former buildings. However, I was
quickly reassured that a new building had been erected to the east of
the Met Department. At present it is unused for its intended purpose,
and a large part of the interior is being used as a repository for old
office benches and desks.

The old Electrolyser hydrogen generator and storage tank had been moved
into position, but no attempt had been made to make them operational.
Indeed there is still no mains electricity or water supply laid into the
building, although I was assured there would be no difficulty to do so.

One item that had, however, been installed outside under the overhanging
eves was a 3000 litre storage tank for collected rain water. This water
is used for drinking purposes, although I could see no evidence of any
filtration or purification facilities. I did notice a large number of
similar tanks outside domestic houses and other buildings on the
neighbouring islands.

Nevertheless, the new building will be suitable for balloon filling and
housing the Proton HOGEN hydrogen generator, possibly even without the
removal of the existing Electrolyser generator and tank. There is plenty
of internal space for balloon filling activities. The large sliding door
is situated on the prevailing leeward side of the building. Immediately
in front of the building there is a steel lattice aerial support tower
and its necessary mooring cables. However, there is ample room for
launching balloons to the side of the balloon shed. It is not ideal, but
still a long way from being unsatisfactory.

The main building has a large observing office looking out towards the
western end of the runway, and the newly rebuilt fire section. The room
is air conditioned and has a number of PCs and associated peripherals on
desks alongside the windows. Other desks are adjacent to the other
walls. In all there is plenty of room to house extra equipment relating
to any new radiosonde system.

The Senior Met Officer's office is on the opposite side of the entrance
corridor to the observing office, and has a view directly to the south
and the main runway. In addition there are other rooms that are used as
rest areas or are relatively unused. With a little ingenuity it would be
possible to create a storage area for sondes and balloons that could be
kept cooler and less humid than in a further corrugated metal storage
building between the main office block and the balloon filling building.
The other two buildings do not have any air conditioning facilities, and
the internal conditions could get very hot and humid.

I was assured, both in Gan and Male, that there would be no problem
about the Met Department laying on mains electricity and water to the
balloon filling building, as well as removing the old junk, and possibly
even the old Electrolyser hydrogen generator. I was assured that there
would be an adequate electricity supply for the HOGEN generator, namely
190-240V, 50/60Hz, 12.0kVA.

**Gan: Electricity Supply**

One of the other positive features about Gan was that the old
electricity generators left by the RAF in 1976 have now been retired.
Indeed even in 1988 at least one had already been replaced. A new mains
electricity supply to the whole atoll has been provided by the State
Electricity Board (Statel) through a new generating station on Hittadu.

The present electricity supply is reckoned to be very reliable, with no
power cuts or significant variations in voltage. Information about this
came from not only the met staff, but also some ex-patriate staff who
are constructing the new Gan airport terminal building. The good
electricity supply is also evidenced by the fact that although many of
the PCs in use have a UPS and/or voltage stabiliser, there are those
that do not. These latter PCs in use have been running without any
bother. However, to be on the safe side it will still be prudent to
include a UPS with voltage stabilising facilities to prevent equipment
damage caused by voltage surges or spikes from external means, eg.
lightning, etc.

The electricity supply is rated at 240V, 50Hz, with UK-style 13A square
pin outlets.

**Gan: Telecommunications**

This topic caused the most bother in attempting to ascertain the true
situation, as different informers gave me varying, or even conflicting,
information.

Current practice on Gan for disseminating surface observations (synoptic
and METAR) is for a telefax message to be prepared on a PC and then sent
as an ordinary fax to the NMC in Male. They transcribe it and pass it on
to Delhi.

As a backup to the telefax method, messages are dictated over the phone
to the NMC.

Various informants stated that email/internet is not used from Gan for
routine observation messages, because internet is not reliable or
because of connection problems. Different explanations were advanced on
the cause of these problems, but no definitive answer was received on
Gan. Mention had been made of the limited number of lines between Gan
and Male, as well as the limited number of ports into the local Internet
Service Provider (ISP). These reasons are probably very valid in view of
the large, and increasing, numbers of people using the phone and
internet in Addu Atoll, causing congestion at peak times. The final, and
probably correct, explanation was given in Male that access to the
internet was severely restricted to prevent any misuse, and to minimise
the size of the phone bills.

It came as something of a shock to learn about the cost of
telecommunications in the Maldives in general, and Gan in particular.
The Gan Met Department currently only has one telephone line to cater
for all its needs. Use of the phone is severely restricted, and no
international calls are allowed under any circumstances.

The monthly phone bill for Gan is about 10,000 Rufiyaa. This is
equivalent to £500 or \$780 per month. Line charges are about 2,000
Rufiyaa (£100 or \$156) per month. Internet access is by modem only.
Broadband is not yet available on Gan. However, observed internet
connection speeds were a very respectable 50.2 kB/sec.

Although hopes exist for improving the telecomm situation from Gan, it
is likely that there will be no immediate improvement in the situation,
because of cost restrictions. Whether this will hold true after the
airport on Gan begins international operations in October 2004 remains
to be seen.

Although the current telefax method is not an ideal solution for
transmitting data to Male, it will probably be adequate for use with the
upper air messages until something better is available.

**Gan: Staff**

There are about 12 observers on Gan at present to cover the observing
programme, with supposedly 4 on at any one time. However, when I visited
the office on the Friday morning there was only one person visible,
although it must be said that Fridays in the Maldives are the equivalent
of Sundays in Christian countries. Nevertheless I have no reason to
disbelieve the assurance that sufficient staff are available for their
current needs.

The additional work involved with any upper air system is probably about
2 hours for a single ascent. I feel this could be accommodated within
the present staff levels for a 1200UTC (1700 local time) flight, but
probably not for an additional flight at 0000UTC.

I was informed that there was little turnover of staff on Gan, as the
Met Department is considered to be a good place to work.

[Mr Abdullah Algeen]{.underline}, Deputy Director of the Maldives Met
Department, said that plans are in hand to recruit extra staff in the
near future for Gan to coincide with the increase in work involved with
the international status change of the airport in October 2004. In
particular there will be a need for 4 forecasters and 2 observers, or
possibly 1 observer and 1 technician. None has been recruited yet and
they will need training before they can take up positions.

**Gan: Management**

The present Senior Met Officer, [Mr Ali Wafir]{.underline}, has been in
post for well over 20 years now. He is local, with a home on Midu on the
eastern side of the atoll. It is obvious that he runs an efficient
office, and appears very competent. I was not formally introduced to any
of the observing staff, but noticed they went about their business with
a quiet efficiency. This was even true when I arrived unannounced at the
office on the Friday morning. Only one observer appeared to be on duty,
but I did see him carry out an observation and send it by the telefax
link.

I enquired about any quality management systems that may be in place,
but I was sceptical about their assurances that they did have some. The
procedures that were described to me were more related to quality
assurance than quality management. I received a similar response when
talking to Mr Algeen in Male.

There are no technical staff permanently based on Gan. Although Mr Wafir
indicated that there would be no difficulty in recruiting a suitable
candidate from Addu Atoll, Mr Algeen later informed me they have no
immediate plans to recruit anybody. However, the possibility has not
entirely been ruled out. There appeared to be no other external sources
of technical staff on Gan, although I did not get the opportunity to
seek any out. It is probably safe to assume the only technical staff
available to handle equipment problems on Gan will be those based at NMC
Male.

My feeling was that there is a great deal of commitment to having an
upper air system on Gan. Both Mr Wafir and Mr Algeen appreciated the
importance of having such a station on the equator, even more so than at
Male. Such an equatorial site is of great significance not only to the
Indian Ocean but also on a regional or global basis. Even [Mr Abdullahi
Majeed]{.underline}, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Housing and
the Environment (and current Director of the Met Department) was
actively keen to have the station operational.

**Maldives Government Budget**

This topic has been difficult to assess. It is obvious that the Met
Department under Mr Algeen is determined to make the most efficient use
of the money allocated to them. I did not notice any wasteful practices,
and certainly in the case of the telecommunications on Gan all the staff
were conscious of the costs involved.

With just the current commitment to maintaining the observing network
and forecasting duties at the NMC Male it is obvious that the Met
Department strives to keep all its equipment operational and fairly up
to date. There are also modest plans for improvement with the possible
introduction of a few automatic weather stations to islands to the north
of Male, where there is currently only one observing site at Hanimaadhoo
in the extreme north.

Some improvements are being somewhat enforced on them with the upgrade
of the Gan airport to international status in October 2004. This will
coincide with the opening of a new large hotel on the neighbouring
island of Willingilli, alleged to become the largest hotel in the
Maldives. There are also future plans for opening other resort hotels on
one or more atolls to the north of Addu Atoll. All this tourist activity
will help ensure the long-term viability of Gan International Airport,
even when the various garment factories on Gan cease operations and
relocate back to Sri Lanka late in 2004. So far there seems to have been
little increase in the regular budget for the Met Department to
compensate for the extra strains placed on it.

All in all, my honest opinion is that the Maldives Met Department is
going to find its resources stretched to the limit, not only in
maintaining the present level of commitment, but also with an increase
in commitment with the upgrade of Gan airport to international status.

Mr Majeed was reasonably confident that the 2004 budget submission would
be approved in the next month or so. It is obviously too late now for
the 2004 budget submission to be altered, but he felt that there may be
some scope for increasing the budget amount in 2005 and onwards.
However, whether that increase could cover a possible \$72,000 per year
for radiosondes and balloons at this stage is very debatable.

**Recommendations**

Gan holds an almost unique place in meteorological and climatological
circles in that it is one of the very few ocean-based sites situated on
the equator, being only 35 minutes of latitude south. It is therefore of
some importance for not only local reasons, but also regional and global
considerations to have an upper air observing station there.

My recommendation is that for the purposes of the project for
redeveloping Gan as a GUAN station a Vaisala DigiCORA III system using
RS80 GPS sondes should be installed there. Current staffing levels on
Gan and budgetary constraints will prevent more than one ascent per day
being undertaken.

Additionally a new hydrogen generator system, such as the Proton Energy
Systems HOGEN 40 should be provided.

My main reasons for choosing the Vaisala GPS system rather than a direct
tracking system, such as radio-theodolite, are:

-   There are no technical staff permanently based on Gan at present, or
    for the foreseeable future, and the GPS system has the benefit of
    being very reliable, with no electro-mechanical equipment requiring
    higher levels of preventative and curative maintenance.

-   With the very slack upper wind structure the instances of balloons
    passing overhead are quite frequent, requiring very good tracking
    properties in whatever system is chosen. GPS systems are much more
    reliable than radio-theodolite systems in this respect.

-   For one-man operation, which is all that current staffing levels on
    Gan will allow, launching and locating GPS sondes is very much
    simpler than with radio-theodolite sondes.

**Actions: United Kingdom**

1.  Provide one Vaisala DigiCORA III radiosonde system, including a
    suitable uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with voltage stabilising
    facilities.

2.  Provide an initial supply of at least 400 radiosondes and suitable
    balloons for one year's operation. If project funds are sufficient
    then consideration should be given to providing further sondes and
    balloons, not necessarily at the same time as installation.

3.  Installation of the equipment on Gan, either by manufacturer's staff
    or Met Office staff, as appropriate.

4.  Provision of on-site training for all operating staff on Gan in the
    use and operation of the equipment.

5.  Provision of on-site technical training for at least two technicians
    from NMC Male in the care and maintenance of the equipment.

**Actions: WMO**

1.  Provide one Proton Energy Systems HOGEN 40 hydrogen generator,
    including storage tanks and suitable water de-ionising equipment.

2.  Installation of the equipment on Gan by manufacturer's staff.

3.  Provision of on-site technical training for at least two technicians
    from NMC Male in the care and maintenance of the equipment.

**Note:** Any equipment provided should be consigned to the Maldives
Meteorological Department through the Resident Representative of UNDP in
Male to facilitate customs clearance, etc.

**Actions: Maldives Meteorological Department**

1.  Clear the balloon filling building of all extraneous items,
    including the existing Electrolyser hydrogen generator and storage
    tank.

2.  Provide a mains electricity supply to the building, and a suitable
    junction box in the hydrogen generator area capable of supplying
    240V, single phase, 50Hz, 12.0kVA power to the new hydrogen
    generator.

3.  Provide suitable and adequate gas-proof lighting inside the balloon
    filling building.

4.  Make provision for water from the rain water storage tank outside
    the balloon filling building to be available at the new hydrogen
    generator position. Provision should also be made for filtration of
    this water.

5.  As a backup facility for the new hydrogen generator also provide a
    mains water supply.

6.  Provide suitable balloon filling equipment, such as hoses, nozzles,
    and operator protective clothing. Any balloon filling equipment
    should have adequate earth connections to facilitate the dispersal
    of static electricity build-up caused during the balloon filling
    process.

7.  Provide suitable and adequate storage facilities for the radiosondes
    and balloon being provided under the project. Although any such
    storage space does not need to be kept to the same ambient
    conditions as for electronic equipment, such as PCs, it should have
    some form of temperature and humidity control. Unventilated and
    non-air conditioned buildings would not be suitable for storage of
    the radiosondes and balloons.