Dubai students build weather station atop school roof, bring real-life insights into classrooms

A few students from the Indian High School have been relentlessly working to build a weather station, as they received data from the satellite and converted it into weather information.

And finally, after a month, they celebrated their tireless efforts which have been fruitful in receiving accurate data on the weather.

The station sitting atop the roof of the E block of The Indian High School, Oud Metha Campus, is a simple, non-descript tower built by the staff and students which was erected last week.

The campus is now abuzz with the wuthering of data and images that this tower is capturing and relaying into classrooms to let students analyse 'whether the weather be fine or whether the weather be not'.

The project is called 'Weather-ing Heights' and is headed by former students. It is now in the hands of few students from the middle and secondary sections, known as the 'technovators' and digital ambassadors.

The project was inaugurated by Punit MK Vasu, CEO of The Indian High Group of Schools on Tuesday and is being collaborated with the Dubai Astronomy Group to further expand the project.

These budding scientists have independently researched on the requirements, studied voluminous material to gain more information, undergone training by senior peers, constructed and dismantled equipment, run field trials, inserted corrections and upgrades, and readied for the launch.

“This cutting-edge weather station will revolutionise the way we learn about meteorology while providing real-time, and local weather data,” said Ammar Ahmed, a former student of Indian High School and is currently studying engineering in the UK.

“This ambitious project relies on data and images captured by three polar orbit satellites operated by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As these satellites pass over the UAE, they transmit weather information to our receiver or the tower,” said Daniel Thomas of Grade 11 and 12 technovators.

“The computer program takes signals from the satellites and turns them into clear pictures. These pictures give us an amazing view of how the weather works on Earth,” Aidtya Pillai, digital ambassador from Grades 9 and 10.

This station serves as a bridge between the space and the school's classrooms. The collected weather updates are then uploaded to the website which ensures students, teachers, and weather enthusiasts can access and analyse the latest weather data.

The recorded weather will also be broadcasted over the school radio and in assemblies to raise awareness and impart knowledge. Also, the data captured from the satellite is projected into all classrooms in real-time. This is then open to potential use in a math, science, or social studies lesson, thus enhancing learning in real life.

Speaking on the launch, Vasu said that ‘Weather-ing Heights’ is the latest in a series of projects and assignments taken up by the school as part of its STEM curriculum. “This is also an initiative to commemorate the Cop28 conference due to be held in November in UAE. We want our students to be more acutely aware of and actively involved in issues related to climate control."

“An in-depth knowledge of local weather conditions is therefore as good a starting point as any. The fact that the programme is entirely student-led just adds so much more to the merit of the entire effort,” he added.

“Watching these students work on projects like this is truly inspiring. They may be young, but they are like budding scientists, eager and quick to understand complex things. Their ability to grasp difficult concepts gives us hope for a bright future in science and technology,” said Ahmed Hassan, head of the technical department at Dubai Astronomy Group.

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