Evaluation of the Spatial Distribution of Active Surface Climatic Observation Stations in Santa Catarina (2020) According to the Guidelines of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Abstract

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) advises that each surface climatic observation station in a network represents “the state of the atmosphere of a vast region”. The extension of this region, or representative area, can vary from 2,000 km² to 10,000 km², depending on the heterogeneity of the relief. Regions with homogeneous relief may have a lower density of stations (one station every 10,000 km2), while regions with rugged relief needs a higher density of stations (one station every 2,000 km2). The objective of this work was to compare the heterogeneity of Santa Catarina relief with the current (2020/08/01) distribution of 187 active surface climatic observation stations, and to suggest a network stations that represent the heterogeneity of relief according to the WMO guidelines. Three terrain metrics (altitude, standard deviation of altitude and topographic position index) were used to map the heterogeneity of the relief. The mapping was done in ArcGis Pro (v. 2.1.2) using principal component analysis and cluster analysis. The results show that, in quantity, the current number of meteorological stations can meet the WMO guidelines, however, it is necessary to make a more adequate spatial distribution to cover the maximum heterogeneity of the relief.

Keywords
metheorology; monitoring; wheather; climate changes