Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration ( Filipino : Pangasiwaan ng Pilipinas sa Serbisyong Atmosperiko, Heopisiko, at Astronomiko ), PAGASA for short , is the national meteorological service of the Philippines and is responsible for creating public weather forecasts as well as flood and storm warnings, but also more extensive meteorological , astronomical and climatological services. The Authority was established on December 8, 1972 by Presidential Decree No. 78. With this decree, the previously existing weather service Weather Bureau was renamed and reorganized as PAGASA. In the national Filipino language, pagasa also means hope .
PAGASA is a member of the WMO and monitors weather activities and publishes typhoon warnings within its area of responsibility. This area of responsibility extends over an area which is delimited by an imaginary line along the following coordinates:
25 ° N 120 ° E, 25 ° N 135 ° E, 5 ° N 135 ° E, 5 ° N 115 ° E, 15 ° N 115 ° E, 21 ° N 120 ° E and back to the first point.
history
The beginnings of the Filipino Meteorological Service go back to the 19th century. In 1865, the Jesuit Francisco Colina, professor of mathematics and physics, began regularly recording the weather two to three times a day. When he was making hourly records of a strong typhoon a year later, the Jesuit teacher Jaime Nonell used this data in a scientific paper published shortly afterwards. This publication caught the attention of businessmen and seafarers in Manila and they then approached the Jesuit superior Juan Vidal with the request that such weather records be regularly made and published. The Jesuit Federico Faura was entrusted with the management of the emerging observatory . From 1869 onwards, round-the-clock recording began after a meteorograph had arrived from Europe. This meteorological device, invented by Angelo Secchi , enabled the regular registration of various weather data. In 1879, on July 7th, Faura issued an initial typhoon warning. After the storm had passed over Luzón as predicted , but had left little damage due to the warning, the observatory consolidated its reputation in the following years and its services were soon in demand beyond the borders of the Philippines. As a result of the growing demand for the meteorological services, the weather station was placed under a royal decree on April 28, 1894 as an official state institution of the Spanish crown, but continued to be managed by the Jesuits.
After expanding its activities, the service previously known as the Observatorio de Manila was renamed the Weather Bureau in 1901 . In 1908 the weather bureau published the first weather map of the Far East . The weather forecasts, which became more and more precise in the following years, were estimated by seafarers throughout the East Asian region. As a result of the Second World War , the observatory was completely destroyed in February 1945 during the Battle of Manila . After the end of the war, the Weather Bureau was re-established on July 24, 1945 under the direction of Edilberto Parulan. With initially sparse equipment and some meteorological equipment left by the American armed forces, the weather service was rebuilt and expanded in the following years. In 1963 the first weather radar was installed . In 1969 the head office was moved to its current address in Quezon City . From the following year 1970 onwards, satellite images were also used to create weather forecasts.
1972 passed Congress a bill of a reorganization and renaming of the Weather Bureau in PAGASA envisaged. However, the entry into force of the law was abruptly stopped on September 21, 1972 with the declaration of martial law by Ferdinand Marcos , as the congress was now closed and the country was henceforth governed by presidential decrees. However, Marcos quickly recognized the immense importance of the meteorological services for the development of the country and on December 12, 1972, with Presidential Decree No. 78, ordered the establishment of PAGASA and subordinated the authority to the Ministry of Defense.
today
Since 1984 the authority has been subordinate to the Ministry of Science and Technology. In the course of this reorganization, the seismological service was separated from PAGASA and instead assigned to PHIVOLCS , the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology, which is administered by the same ministry.
The main task of PAGASA today is to provide precise weather forecasts through detailed observation and analysis of tropical weather systems such as typhoons, monsoons and the intertropical convergence zone , to warn of natural hazards and thus to protect life and property. The agency is currently headed by Vicente B. Malano. PAGASA is divided into the six departments OWB ( Office of Weather Branch ), WFS ( Weather Forecasting Section ), TDS ( Techniques Development Section ), MTS ( Meteorological Telecommunication Section ), AMSO ( Aviation Meteorological Services ) and MSF ( Meteorological Satellite Facilities ).
While the naming of tropical cyclones in the northwestern Pacific is carried out by the RSMC Tokyo across borders , PAGASA assigns its own names to weather systems as soon as they come into its area of responsibility. As a result, it happens in weather reports that one and the same cyclone has two different names.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Maghanda para sa mga Kalamidad Likha ng Kalikasan: Mga Impormasyon at Takbuhan ng Tulong mula sa Gobyerno ( Filipino ) GOVPH. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
- ↑ Brief History of the Meteorological Service of the Philippines . Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. 2004. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
- ↑ Responsibility for the Philippines, western North Pacific and South China Sea at www.wmo.int
- ↑ The History of the Meteorological Service of the Philippines . Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. 2004. Archived from the original on December 16, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
- ^ Officials in key positions on www1.pagasa.dost.gov.ph
