Consultancy - Weather Radar Site Technical Assessment

Apply before 6 Sep. 2026, 11:59 PM Genevan time

Salary: Pay Band C

Duration
: 20 working days over a period of 2 months

Planned travels: One mission to Jamaica, approximately 7-10 working days, including Kingston, the existing weather radar location and technically relevant potential alternative radar sites identified in consultation with the Meteorological Service of Jamaica (MSJ) and WMO.

Focal point name and email for additional information: Petra Mutic (pmutic)

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The Strengthening Hydro-Meteorological and Multi-Hazard Early Warning Services in the Caribbean – Phase 2 (CREWS Caribbean 2.0) project supports Caribbean countries in strengthening meteorological, hydrological and multi-hazard early warning systems and improving capacities for monitoring, forecasting and the provision of timely and authoritative warnings.

In Jamaica, a reliable and resilient weather radar capability is essential for monitoring hurricanes, intense rainfall, severe convective weather and other high-impact hydro-meteorological hazards.

The consultancy will undertake an in-depth technical assessment of Jamaica's existing weather radar capability, including radar hardware, software, operational performance, site and coverage, infrastructure, maintenance arrangements and human-resource capacity.

The assessment will compare options for repairing or rehabilitating the existing radar, relocating or replacing it, complementing it with an additional radar or implementing a phased approach.

It will provide clear recommendations regarding the future weather radar capability required for Jamaica, including radar number and locations, technologies and frequencies, network configuration, software and operational requirements, staffing and competencies, operation and maintenance arrangements and long-term sustainability.

The results will provide an evidence-based technical foundation for government decision-making and future resource mobilization and investment in Jamaica's weather radar and early warning capabilities.

• Conduct a comprehensive desk review and field-based technical assessment of Jamaica's existing weather radar hardware, infrastructure, software, operational performance, maintenance arrangements, data quality and operational applications.
• Assess the suitability of the existing radar site and technically relevant alternative locations and prepare radar coverage, beam-blockage and network scenarios using GIS and/or specialized radar coverage modelling software.
• Assess existing radar software and its functionality for QPE, now casting, severe-weather monitoring, hurricane analysis and other MSJ operational forecasting and warning requirements.
• Compare options for repairing or rehabilitating, relocating or replacing the existing radar, adding an additional radar or implementing a phased approach.
• Provide clear recommendations concerning the required number and location of radars, radar technologies and frequencies, network configuration, integration, redundancy and infrastructure requirements.
• Assess MSJ's staffing, competencies and training needs for radar operation, maintenance, calibration, radar data processing and operational use.
• Assess operation and maintenance, spare-parts, lifecycle, vendor-support, infrastructure-resilience and other requirements necessary for long-term sustainability.
• Prepare a comprehensive Weather Radar Technical Assessment and Recommendations Report, including an options matrix and prioritized recommendations for future investment.

1. Inception Report.

2. Draft Weather Radar Technical Assessment and Recommendations Report.

3. Final Weather Radar Technical Assessment and Recommendations Report

4. Presentation of the final findings and recommendations.

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Meteorology, Atmospheric Sciences, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Remote Sensing, Radar Engineering, Physics, Environmental Engineering or another relevant discipline.

• A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible professional…