Two technical experts from WMO/RIC Tsukuba visited the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) from 20 November to 3 December 2016 to attend the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) third country training program as supervisors. Thirteen trainees from eleven WMO Members in Oceania (Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Fiji) participated in the program as part of the JICA Project for Reinforcing the Meteorological Training Functions of FMS.
FMS technical officers who visited RIC Tsukuba in June 2016 for practical training in meteorological instrument calibration made a principal contribution to the training by lecturing an overview about instruments and calibration and instructing excercises in inspection and calibration of instruments (thermometers, barometers and hygrometers). During the training, the attendees inspected and calibrated their own traveling standards and operational instruments using FMS standards, and developed their understandings of the importance of regular instrument calibration and inspection for quality-assured observation with international traceability. FMS issued calibration certificates for those instruments of the Members as an outcome of the training.
The experts from RIC Tsukuba assisted the instructors of FMS by providing appropriate supports in the process of the training and proposed revision about calibration manuals of FMS adapted to its present situation. Through participating practical trainings in instrument calibration continuously and repeatedly, the FMS staffs have now acquired satisfactory skill about it. FMS is ready to play a leading role in systematizing calibration and traceability in the Oceanian Members by implementing regular calibration of their instruments and maintaining their skill.
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| Group photo at the FMS entrance | Thermometer calibration |
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| Barometer calibration | Inspection of AWS as a field practice |
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