Facility has been installed between buildings 15 and 6
Photo: Bruno Todeschini – Ascom/PUCRS
The difference between the temperature at PUCRS and other parts of town can be as significant as 3°C on certain days, according to Regis Lahm, professor at PUCRS’ School of Humanities. Intent on measuring atmospheric conditions on Campus, the Geography program, in collaboration with the Imaging and Geoprocessing Laboratory (LTIG), headed by Lahm, has been awarded an exclusive and unique weather station by Raspberry Pi Foundation, from the University of Cambridge. The facility has been installed on Campus at the Largo da Solidariedade (Solidarity Square), between buildings 15 and 6.
The community can get access to the weather station data on www.wunderground.com and on a television that will be displaying the weather forecast for Porto Alegre at the hall of building 5. The equipment captures information such as wind speed, rainfall, pressure, air quality, wind direction and ground temperature. According to Dr. Lahm, what makes this station unique is the combination of all of these elements put together in a single piece of equipment. He claims that the more information on weather conditions are reported, the more accurate the weather forecast and clime studies will be. “For instance, today we can say that the weather forecast for one or two days is accurate”, states he.
Geography students will be able to use the station and will be assisted by LTIG grantees. Not only will the station be beneficial to the community, it will also be used in the laboratory’s projects. Pró-Alertas is one of such programs, which intends to prevent natural disasters by conducting research in direct collaboration with the community. Findings from this investigation will help researchers conclude how much rainfall would be needed to issue a flood warning in Porto Alegre. Pró-Alertas will use data from 32 weather stations, including Raspberry Pi, the only one operating at PUCRS.
