BMD was the first NMHS beneficiary of the RIC Tsukuba Package, with a technical cooperation program implemented from August to December 2013 as a part of a JICA technical cooperation project. As a result, the Department now maintains national standard instruments and uses them to carry out on-site inspections of local weather observation stations.
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On-site surveying in relation to calibration capacity
RIC Tsukuba experts found that although BMD had performed surface weather observation consistently for years, its standard instruments had not been calibrated against a national standard. As a result, the traceability of local on-site instruments and other equipment had not been ensured for a long time. The experts reported on a number of points for improvement, including the capacity for and/or structure of meteorological instrument calibration. -
Provision of national meteorological standard instruments
JICA donated a digital barometer and a glass tube thermometer as national standard instruments to BMD in 2013 along with inspection equipment to ensure the traceability of meteorological instruments in Bangladesh. -
Technical training in Japan and Bangladesh
Technical and practical training on thermometer and barometer calibration was conducted in 2013 at RIC Tsukuba with three invited BMD experts. Several months after the training (Figure below), two RIC Tsukuba experts were dispatched to BMD to check staff proficiency and provide additional instruction on calibration activities. -
Follow-up activities
Records on thermometer and barometer calibration conducted by BMD staff are periodically sent to RIC Tsukuba, which provides technical feedback to help maintain BMD's capacity.
