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By Sgt. Francis Horton
367th MPAD, USD-S PAO
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq – The afternoon sky is filled with a slight haze, and in the distance a dark cloud of dust is kicking up.
Standing on the roof of their office May 7, 2010, the workers at the civilian weather station on Contingency Operating Base Basra appeared unconcerned about the dust. One takes a few notes and then goes off to report the current weather situation around the airport.
"In the last two weeks, we have been training the Iraqi weather office on improving their observations as they work to become internationally certified," said Air Force Capt. William Ladson, a United States Division-South staff weather officer. The international certification is an important step toward opening the Basra airport to international commercial flights again.
Working on 24-hour shifts, the weather reporters keep a watchful eye on the sky as well as their equipment, the Automated Observing System. These machines have the ability to detect temperatures, wind speeds, air pressure, cloud height and various other meteorological readings.
"It measures all the key elements of weather observation," said Air Force Master Sgt. John Sievers, a staff weather officer. Sievers has worked with many other Iraqi civilian weather stations, as well as a few Iraqi air force stations, he said.
Information isn't just pulled from the sensors though. Every hour, the Iraqi observers head to the roof of their building to do a visual inspection of the skies.
"Nothing compares to the human eye," Sievers said.
Some of the weather watchers have been doing observations and forecasting for almost two decades in Basra. While civilian flights are limited these days, the eventual hope is that these observers will be paramount for determining the safety of the air for flights from all over the world.
The Iraqi civilian observers use no military equipment and gather their information from their own eyes and the sensors they have. They also pull weather and satellite data from the Internet, Sievers said.
"This is an international airport, and as U.S. forces continue to drawdown, they are going to have to learn to survive on their own," Ladson said.
Most of the lessons in the last two weeks have been refresher courses, as all of the workers are trained and experienced weather observers or forecasters. Some have even traveled to the U.S. to receive further training.
"They are all very eager to learn," Sievers said.
The trainers are working to get more precise measurements out with higher frequency, he said.
"It's just a matter of refreshing at this point," Ladson said.
And the refresher courses are proving to be helpful.
"We are learning very much from the experience of the trainers," said Adil Abrhim, an observer shift leader with 18 years of experience under his belt.
| Date Taken: | 05.17.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 05.17.2010 08:44 |
| Story ID: | 49798 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, IQ |
| Web Views: | 164 |
| Downloads: | 152 |
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