Vaisala ASAP Station
Gathering
synoptic weather observation data over the oceans is an important complement to
meteorological upper-air observation. The Vaisala ASAP Station is a
semi-automatic shipboard weather station that is designed for ocean-going ships
that participate in the Automated Shipboard Aerological Program (ASAP). The
Vaisala ASAP Station allows upper-air observations to be made over the oceans
from cargo ships and other marine vessels at reasonable cost.
The
vessels enlisted in the ASAP program typically make two launches per day from
the Vaisala ASAP Station. Some perform up to four. The Vaisala ASAP Station is
semi-automatic: an operator must oversee the filling and launching of the
balloon-borne radiosondes. Thereafter, the process is automatic. The Vaisala
ASAP Station receives the radiosonde signals and processes them into
meteorological messages. It transmits the messages in standard WMO message
format (TEMP SHIP). The messages are relayed to the Global Telecommunication
System (GTS) for international meteorological use. Vaisala automatic weather
stations can be integrated in order to bring surface weather data into the
system for sending SYNOP SHIP messages.
The
Vaisala ASAP Station can be fitted on ships of various types, and it operates
reliably under changing environmental conditions. The operator room houses the
Vaisala sounding equipment (Vaisala DigiCORA® Sounding System MW31), a
satellite transceiver and instruments for making surface weather
observations.