Meteorological Service of Canada
In support of the…
2015 Pan Am / Parapan Games
Presented by: Rob Simpson
Head: Projects and Installations
Air Monitoring and Operations Section
MSC, Toronto, ON
May 29th, 2012
Our Mandate Includes:
• Essential Federal Services
• Safety and Protection of the public, athletes, and officials
• The Games will have large crowds in specific areas
• Extending Severe Weather Warning for Venues (specific
small area warning)
• Services will include:
• Strong winds, hail, lightning, heavy rain warnings for
venues
• Health / Air Quality / Smog
• General inquiries
• Environmental Stewardship
• Emergency Response
• Sustainability, Assessments
Our Mandate Does Not Include:
• Services for operating games efficiently, or forecasting
sport-specific weather thresholds related to safety or
fairness.
A Comparison
2010 Vancouver
Olympics
2015 Pan Am and
Parapan Games
No. Of Athletes
and Coaches
2600
8000 – PanAm
2000 – Parapan
Volunteers
20,000
23,000
No. of Sports
16 – Olympics
(10 outdoors)
4 – Paralympics
40 – PanAm (18 Outdoors)
10 – Parapan
Range of
Spectator
Seating
1,500 to 18,000
1,500 to 20,000
(potentially 70,000 –
Opening/Closing Ceremonies)
Duration
14 Days – Olympics
7 Days – Paralympics
(6 Weeks total with Prep
time and Wrap-Up)
14 Days – Pan AM
7 Days – Parapan
(6 Weeks total with Prep time
and Wrap-Up)
Participating
Countries
80
42
On the Mountain
In the City
Photo by: Mark Watmough
Summer Severe Weather
Heavy Rain
Strong Winds
Heavy Rain/Flooding
Air Quality
Lightning
Hail
Infrastructure Failure Tornadoes
SMOG 15 events/yr 2-3 day episodes
Heat/UV
Hail
Past experience from Sydney, Beijing, and
Vancouver…
• Weather will become the #1 daily Agenda item for
the Games Operating Committee.
Priorities This Year
In order to produce venue specific weather warnings, we needed
observational data at a finer spatial and temporal scale
After an evaluation of the existing weather observational network,
gaps were identified.
– to build 3 all season sites
– 20 to 30 summer only compact sites, some will be collocated
with venues
– To use additional existing equipment to augment observation
network density
Three Full Stations
Locations selected with
MT input to improve
coverage of the GTA
area
Leases to be concluded
soon. Construction to
begin this summer
To be built to RCS
standard but scheduled
for removal after the
games
Locations
EWS
• AMOS will deploy our Emergency
weather station.
• Location to be determined, but one
possible location is Toronto Island to
augment marine forecasts
• No Environmental Assessment required
as station is portable
• Recently completed communication
upgrade
U/A
• AMOS will deploy our Emergency U/A station.
• Location to be determined – flight frequency up to 4x a day
Marine
• AMOS will deploy one Watchkeeper
buoy with one Waverider buoy to
augment wave data
• Lowest cost option as these assets
are already within the Marine Network
• Will need CCG assistance with
deployments
• Plan calls for buoys in the water for
testing in FY 2013/14
Compact Stations
Compact Stations will measure T/Td, Pressure, Wind
Speed and Direction, and on some sensor models precipitation
Many if not all will be camera equipped
Cooperation – Health Canada
Black Globes for Heat Index
Compact Stations
Communication will be IP modem based
Power will be solar – no guarantee of 115v availability
Totally portable – deployable from a minivan – by one
person if necessary (some assembly required)
Two stations, one with a camera, running at CARE, with
more coming soon to provide proof-of-concept data
1
3
2
4
5
Compact
6
Questions ??