The University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani has inaugurated a COSMIC-2 Satellite Ground Station worth $1.2 million at their institution. The project was done in conjunction with the Earth Observation Research and Innovation Centre (EORIC).
The station was funded by the United States of America (USA) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Taiwan National Space Organisation (NSPO). The station’s purpose is for weather monitoring in the tropics and predicting or forecasting weather four days ahead.
The station is now the only one in Africa and joins other nations such as Taiwan, Guam, Hawaii, Honduras, Brazil, Kuwait, Mauritius and Australia to receive improved atmospheric data that promises to increase weather forecast skill.
Background
The COSMIC-2 consists of a set of six satellites that would collect temperature, moisture and ionospheric information over the tropical regions worldwide by measuring the refraction of radio waves through the atmosphere.
The University of Energy and Natural Resources was selected as a site for the station because of several factors including geographical location.
Dr Amos T. Kabo-bah, the head of the EORIC expressed the trust that the Centre could help Ghana and Africa to leverage both “in-situ and satellite data” for improving decision-making in the areas of health, agriculture, ecosystems, climate, disasters, weather and Bio-diversity.
Source: GNB
