Project Rain Gauge expands network of schools

Project Rain Gauge (PRG) now counts 50 schools under its growing network of public schools committed to provide supplementary data on local rainfall measurement in specific areas.

PRG is a joint initiative of Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) and Manila Observatory’s KLIMA Climate Change Center, in cooperation with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and the Department of Education. It aims to create a network of ground stations across the country via partner schools of the Smart Schools Program (SSP).

The first phase of Project Rain Gauge trained teachers from 17 SSP schools located in disaster-prone areas. The pilot schools echo-trained other SSP partner schools near their respective divisions and added 33 more public schools in the PRG network. Aside from the training, the new PRG member schools were also given manual rain gauges.

The PRG schools report their rainfall data online through the Project Rain Gauge website. By engaging more SSP partners in the future, the rainfall data recorded by the schools will be very valuable in determining fine-scale rainfall patterns necessary to describe local climate, and weather reporting and forecasting in local communities will be more accurate.

(Published 07 July 2008, Smart Communications, Inc.)

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