On 10 November, H.E. Kjetil Paulsen, Norwegian Ambassador to Thailand together with Mr. Shane Wright, Executive Director of Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and Dr. Elvind A. Martinsen, Deputy Director of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway) opened a partnership dialogue meeting and workshop to improve the utilization of meteorological data visualization in disaster risk reduction.

The workshop is part of ADPC’s and the Norwegian Government’s long-term partnership to strengthen national capacities in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Vietnam to deal with weather-related natural disasters through improved meteorological services.

“Monitoring and detection of hydro-meteorological extremes is an important segment of early warning systems,” said H.E. Kjetil Paulsen, Norwegian Ambassador to Thailand in his opening remarks of the workshop.

Utilizing the meteorological visualization tool DIANA

The 4-day workshop on meteorological data visualization trains experts from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Vietnam to use the meteorological visualization tool called DIANA developed by the MET Norway. All of the three countries have already been using DIANA in their routine work, and seek for more technical support and hands-on training. The workshop also provides an opportunity for the stakeholders to share their experiences on using the DIANA tool.

“I am confident that this workshop will lead to improved regional collaboration on meteorological data visualization,” said Mr. Shane Wright, Executive Director of ADPC.

The DIANA tool helps disaster risk reduction practitioners to make reliable and accurate predictions of meteorological events and issue early warnings of extreme events faster and more effectively. Many developing countries in Asia lack state-of-the-art techniques and tools for visualizing and analyzing observed meteorological data mainly due to a shortage of technical and human capacities.

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been supporting the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology in Myanmar and the National Hydro-Meteorological Service in Vietnam to strengthen human and institutional capacities to deal with disasters since 2012.

Mr. Tor Ivar Mathisen, Senior Meteorologist and Project Manager for Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway), His Excellency Kjetil Paulsen, Norwegian Ambassador to Thailand and Mr. Shane Wright, Executive Director of ADPC, attending the Inaugral Session for the Regional Training Workshop on Meteorological Data Visualization.