President Leonel Fernandez is expected in Punta Cana for the inauguration of Punta Cana’s new radar weather system on Saturday 1 October. The radar will make available enhanced weather information and will also improve aviation safety at the Punta Cana International Airport, that is the leading passenger port of entry to the Dominican Republic.
The US$2.1 million radar is being funded in its entirety by the Grupo Punta Cana, via its Corporacion Aeroportuaria del Este, S.A. The installation is being carried out by Radtec Engineering Inc of Broomfield, Colorado and calls for a high performance weather radar interconnected with Punta Cana’s International Airport.
The decision to install the radar came as a result of the DR’s need for its own weather forecasting facility, because timely predicting hurricanes and other weather conditions is so crucial to the country’s tourism development.
Radtec Engineering is installing a new TDR C-band Klystron Doppler Radar System. The radar will be operational in late September and will provide long-range weather coverage for the DR and of weather events approaching from the east. The system has a circular range of 400 kilometers so it can predict weather from Puerto Rico to Haiti in addition to that of the entire Dominican Republic.
The radar is also sensitive enough to detect rain and wind shear, in addition to severe weather conditions. Radtec Engineering explains that these capabilities will improve the safety and efficiency of aviation operations at Punta Cana International Airport, placing the airport in an elite class of modern technology users amongst airports in the Florida and Caribbean region.
Grupo Punta Cana is also training Dominican meteorologists in the use of the data provided by the radar, working closely with Gloria Ceballos, director of the Dominican Weather Department.