# Presentation: 257756

## Satelite Training in Latin America 

- Vilma Castro,
- Professor at the  School of Physics,
- 	University of Costa Rica
- WMO Regional Meteorological Training Center

## WMO Regional Meteorological Training Center at the University of Costa Rica  

## 1995 WMO Regional Training Seminar on Satellite Meteorology 

- Coordinated by Dr. Donald Hinsman, from WMO
- With lecturers from the RMTC, NOAA, EUMETSAT
- Among them: Drs Jim Purdom and Roger Weldon

## The rule in most of the participants countries:low resolution imagery, one or two pictures a day in ugly thermal paper. Few countries had displays in a monitor like the one below . 

## During the seminar in Costa Rica, Drs Purdom and Hinsman proposed a pilot project to convert the RMTCs in Costa Rica and Barbados in specialized satellite training centers, with the cooperation of WMO andNOAA/NESDIS,through the Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Research (CIRA), at Colorado State Univ. –  Fort Collins 

## Dr. Martin Yerg, at the International Activities  Division (NOAA) helped finding resources to acquire computer equipment for the RMTC-CR 

## Reconstruction effort for Hurricane Mitch provided funds for: 

- 2 RAMSDIS systems for every country in Central America
- 1 server
- training
- calibration of rainfall algorithms
- Help Desk at the RMTC

## 1999 WMO Regional Training Seminar on Satellite Meteorology 

- Coordinated by Dr. Donald Hinsman, from WMO, with lecturers from the RMTC and CIRA
- 50 participants:
- 21 sponsored by WMO
- 11 by NOAA/Mitch project
- 6 National Met. Service of Costa Rica
- 12 from the RMTC

## 2000 Regional Training Seminar on Satellite Meteorology 

## The RMTC in Costa Rica has evolved as a specialized training center in satellite meteorology

- PCs available for training
- Ingest of real time imagery with RAMSDIS systems
- Computed aided learning, multimedia modules from COMET have been translated into Spanish
- Satellite Meteorology: the new GOES imager
- Satellite Meteorology: Case Studies
- The Forecast Process
- Numerical Weather Prediction

## The RMTC in Costa Rica has evolved as a specialized training center in satellite meteorology

- It participates and pools resources from the Virtual Laboratory for Education and Training in Satellite Meteorology
- BoM via the WMO site:
-  _[http://www.](http://www.wmo.ch/indexflash.html)__[wmo](http://www.wmo.ch/indexflash.html)__[.](http://www.wmo.ch/indexflash.html)__[ch](http://www.wmo.ch/indexflash.html)__[/](http://www.wmo.ch/indexflash.html)__[indexflash](http://www.wmo.ch/indexflash.html)__[.html](http://www.wmo.ch/indexflash.html)_
- CIRA site:     _[http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/wmovl/main.html](http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/wmovl/main.html)_
- EUMETSAT site:     _[http://](http://oislab.eumetsat.de/VLab/)__[oislab](http://oislab.eumetsat.de/VLab/)__[.](http://oislab.eumetsat.de/VLab/)__[eumetsat](http://oislab.eumetsat.de/VLab/)__[.de/](http://oislab.eumetsat.de/VLab/)__[VLab](http://oislab.eumetsat.de/VLab/)__[/](http://oislab.eumetsat.de/VLab/)_

## Challenges for the near future:

- Maintain the Help Desk beyond support from project Mitch
- Expand the job done in Central America to other countries
- Train students in the digital manipulation of imagery and products
- Joint project between CIRA, UCR and ICE
- Validation of the blended GOES/Microwave precipitation estimates and TRMM

## Challenges for the near future:

- Keep up the pace of the **Virtual Laboratory for Education and Training in Satellite Meteorology**
- Leaded by WMO’s Expert Team on Improving Satellite Systems Utilization and Products

## Challenges for the near future:

- Automatic access to real time meteorological data is still required.
- 		Will it be LDM-UNIDATA?
- 		Or a NOAAPORT?
**ACCES TO REAL TIME DATA IS IMPORTANT IN TRAINING**

## I already have an antenna!...and METEOFORUM...

## Thank you

**Campus -UCR**