Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental MonitoringSuccessful Approaches to Building Hydromet Data Networks in the Russian Federation Dr. A.I.Bedritsky6-7 January 2005 San Diego, CA, USA

In the Resolution ROLE AND OPERATION OF NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL AND HYDROLOGICAL SERVICES (NMHSs) The fourteenth CONGRESS of the WMO INVITES Members to recognize that the unique nature of meteorological and related service provision requires:a commitment of governments to maintain and strengthen the basic meteorological and related infrastructure operated by their NMHSs, in the public interesta high level of international cooperation effective partnership between NMHSs and the media, academia and private meteorological sectors;9.1.11 .. Congress invited Members to continue their efforts in ensuring representation of WMO and NMHSs, where possible, in events of relevance to the development of meteorology and hydrology and to their application to sustainable development.

What is ROSHYDROMET The Federal Hydrometeorology and Environment Monitoring Service (ROSHYDROMET) is the federal executive authority which has the following functions:- passing normative legal acts,- management of the state property and providing state services in the field of hydrometeorology and adjacent areas,- monitoring of the environment and environment pollution,- the state supervision of works on active modification of meteorological and other geophysical processes,- ensures the fulfilment of Russian Federations commitments concerning the international agreements in the scope of ROSHYDROMET activity

Roshydromet mission is toensure hydrometeorological safety of the Russian Federation, provide public services in the field of hydrometeorology and related fields and monitor the environmental pollutionSTRATEGIC GOALS OF ROSHYDROMET The first strategic goal is to provide timely warnings of hazardous hydrometeorological events and high levels of the environmental pollution. The second strategic goal is to meet the requirements of the Government, physical and legal bodies for hydrometeorological and heliogeophysical information as well as for information on the state and pollution of the environment.

To meet the strategic goals Roshydromet:

- develops the state observational network, and assesses and predicts the pollution of the atmosphere, surface waters, territorial seas, shelf and near-Earth space; - participates in the global exchange of hydrometeorological data and provides operation of World Meteorological Centre of the WMO World Weather Watch (WWW) in Moscow and Regional Meteorological Centres in Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk; - maintains the Uniform State Fund of hydrometeorological, oceanographic and geophysical data and data on the pollution of the environment, and improves data archiving technologies;

Structure of ROSHYDROMET

Participation of Russia in the World Weather Watch Observing System

Roshydromet provides operation of the following Specialized Meteorological Centres of the WMO World Weather Watch: World Meteorological Centre in Moscow. Regional Meteorological Centres in Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk. Regional Specialized Centre for Model Analysis of Radiation and Pollution Air Transport in Obninsk.

World Data CentresData Centres of the International Council for Science (ICSU)WDC Meteorology (Obninsk) WDC Oceanography (Obninsk) WDC Rockets and Satellites (Obninsk)WDC Rotation of the Earth (Obninsk)Data Centres of the World Meteorological Organizations (WMO)WDC Solar Radiation (Saint Petersburg)WDC sea ice (Saint Petersburg).

Roshydromet Surface Observations Network (intended for international exchange)

Roshydromet hydrological network: Northern Caucasus

Network of meteorological radars

Changes in a number of hydrometeorological stations and posts

Variation in a number of hazardous events causing damage to the public and economic sectors (by years)

2

142

163

195

254

206

150

175

160

193

285

258

220

,

1

142

163

195

254

206

150

175

160

193

285

258

220

305

,

1

,

1992142

1993163

1994195

1995254

1996206

1997150

1998175

1999160

2000193

2001285

2002258

2003220

2004305

2

3

Economic benefits (including damage prevented) from the use of hydrometeorological information in the main economic sectors for 1996-2003 (bln. of roubls)

20 - 21.11. 2003

DISTRIBUTION OF ECONOMIC EFFECTSACROSS SEPARATE BRANCHES ( % )

Why complex modernization of ROSHYDROMET systems is necessary?

Why is it necessary to modernize the main observation networks?

Attraction of resources for technical development of Roshydromet`s system Roshydromet believes that one of the most effective ways to upgrade the system of hydrometeorological data collection, processing, storage and dissemination is to use the loan of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The loan is meant for the implementation of the investment project UPGRADING AND RE-EQUIPMENT OF ROSHYDROMET INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS developed on the basis of Resolution 94 On measures to enable the Russian Federation to fulfill the commitments in the field of the international hydrometeorological data exchange and to perform the functions of the World Meteorological Centre in Moscow adopted by the Government of the Russian Federation on 8 February 2002.

Main objectives of the Project are to

increase the accuracy of forecasts provided to the public and economy of Russia through the modernization and upgrading of the physical infrastructure and strengthening of institutional and management structure of Roshydromet; enable the Russian Federation to fulfill commitments in the field of the international hydrometeorological data exchange resulted from the participation in the WMO Convention and to perform the functions of the World Meteorological Centre (WMC) in Moscow, its Division in Obninsk, Kaluga Region and Regional Meteorological Centres in Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk; meet the requirements of the public and sectors of economy for hydrometeorological information and information on the state and pollution of the environment; enhance safety of the public and reduce the adverse impacts of the natural environment;ensure efficient management in weather-sensitive sectors of economy and timely and adequate response to natural and man-caused emergencies.

Modernization of observational networks:Modernization of key components of Roshydromet meteorological and hydrological networksEquipping of Roshydromet hydrometeorological network with automated meteorological and hydrological systemsModernization of specific components of hydrological network reequipment of 700-800 hydrological gauges.Modernization of meteorological radar network. Improvement of the storm warning system in the area near the largest cities and vulnerable coastal zones.

Hydrometeorological stations and hydrological posts to be re-equipped

Hydromet stations Hydrological posts900 800

Vladi-mir

Petro-zavodsk

Viborg

Pskov

Smo-lensk

Novgorod

Kaluga

Saint-Petersburg

Ryazan

Moscow

Astra-han

Sochi

Stavro-pol

Rostov

Volgo-grad

.1

Vladi-mir

Petro-zavodsk

Viborg

Pskov

Smo-lensk

Novgorod

Kaluga

Saint-Petersburg

Ryazan

Moscow

Astra-han

Sochi

Stavro-pol

Rostov

Volgo-grad

Development of thunder storm tracking network (probable scenarios) network in Northwestern Federal District; network in Moscow Region; network in Southern Federal Districts.

Technical modernization of forecasting centres, computer and archiving facilities and communication systems:enhancement of computer capacities of the WMO Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres in Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk;

re-equipment of the WMO World Radiation Data Centre of the Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory to increase the efficiency of long range weather/climate forecasts;

modernization of Roshydromet communication system;

modernization and re-equipment of the State Data Fund in RIHMI-WDC (Obninsk) to rescue data currently held on approximately 50000 magnetic tapes and other media;

purchase of a supercomputer for the Main Computer Centre of Roshydromet;

Technical re-equipment of Regional Meteorological Centres in Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk and modernization of the Main Geophysical Observatory (MGO)In each centre it is expected to install one supercomputer of 400 gigaflops capacity and about 25 modernized forecaster working stations. Computer facilities of MGO will be enhanced mainly with the help of the database server of 400 gigaflops capacity. It is also planned to purchase specialized equipment for climate research, in particular equipment to study background surface radiation. It will enable MGO to make more efficient climate change prediction and will be one of the main outcomes of this part of the project.

Modernization of communication and data transmission systemsModernization of telecommunications connecting World Meteorological Centre (WMC) in Moscow, Regional Meteorological Centres in Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk, MGO in Saint Petersburg and data archive in Obninsk as well as well the regional telecommunication network of Roshydromet.Modernization and re-equipment of the data collection system and system of data transmissions from observational stations to regional and main data centres. To make the above modernization and re-equipment possible it is planned to install servers and message switching system equipment in 30 regional and 24 subregional centres and to procure telecommunication equipment for 400 key and remote stations. It expected to procure packet-switched communication equipment for hard-to-access stations, including stations located in the Far North, where traditional communications are not efficient, and satellite communication equipment for selected stations as appropriate.

Technical modernization of the data archiving system (RIHMI-WDC, Obninsk) installation of powerful servers, software, data storage facilities and operational archive equipment;equipping of automatic archive systems with discs of adequate operational (about 40 TB) and working (about 100-200 TB) storage capacity; provision to the Centre of adequate resources to receive and store 2 TB of information per year;purchase of servers with disk information storage, virtual servers with tape carriers and tape library of sufficient volume, tape driver and disk memory of large capacity;establishment of modern robotized library and repository for documents and magnetic tapes;modernization of LAN archive making the rate of information transmission comparable with the Ethernet standard (100 b / sec) for key elements of the system and 1 Gb capacity main line for the Ethernet network;re-equipment of about 120 working stations, which may require additional slide show equipment (printers, plotters, wall displays).

Strengthening of the institutional and management structure, improvement of information dissemination and emergency preparedness:

formulating and testing on the basis of the international experience of the guidelines for the operation of Roshydromet organizations; improvement of emergency warning systems and forms and methods of providing information to users; strengthening of the institutional structure working out of new principles and methods of operation to strengthen the institutional structure of Roshydromet and make it the advanced, efficient and user-oriented agency; formulation of new requirements to the modernized system of Roshydromet; developemnt of the user-oriented system development of the system (database, networks and software) to enable data collection, accumulation, representation and dissemination in an user friendly form; improvement of emergency preparedness and response elaboration of more efficient emergency warning procedures.

Economic loss from all types of hazardous natural events (data provided by the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia):

The following are the catastrophic nature disasters of the latest years: Flood on the Lena River, which actually destroyed the city of Lensk ; Flood in Southern Federal District induced by heavy rains (164 people killed, 290021 affected, 111 788 evacuated); Hurricanes on the coast of the Black Sea resulted in enormous damage and loss of life. The mitigation costs for the above events are estimates at: ~ 4 billion rubles to mitigate the Lena flood, ~20 billion to mitigate the 2002 flood in Southern Federal District.

Economic assessment of expected outcomesAccording to the preliminary estimates the increased quality and lead time of weather forecasts expected to result from the implementation of the Project will provide significant economic and social benefits. The analysis and computations show that the direct mean annual damage to the economy of Russia is currently estimated to vary from 1 to 2 billion US$. Direct losses from adverse weather and hydrological events and natural disasters will reduce by 8,5%. The maximum reduction of losses (by 12 %) due to increased quality of weather forecasts and warnings is expected in municipal services and utilities. The total effect of the project in the short range perspective is estimated at 500-1100 million US$, that exceeds the costs on the implementation of the Project considerably.

Prevented loss from hazardous hydrometeorological events

According to the Word Banks estimates thanks to Roshydromet prevented loss in 2005 will amount to 3-5 billion roubles. By 2007 prevented loss will amount to 12 billion roubles.

Implementation of the Project

will provide conditions to improve natural disaster prediction in the Russian Federation.

Cost of the Projects loan -about 80 million $ US.

Duration of the Project 3-4 years

Conclusion 1. Complex modernization of Roshydromet`s systems will provide complex effect for the most of economy sectors consumers.

Conclusion 2. It is important to stress that the funds allocated by the Government to Roshydromet for the maintenance and modernization (observation networks, systems of data collecting and processing), should not be considered as just expences. It is more correct to call them investments which have the following recompences for population and economy: - reduction of life threat, - reduction of damages caused by weather, - economic benefits

THANK YOU

Network of 38 radars (as of 1 January 2004) Equipping of meteorological radar network ( 2005-2011) with modern Doppler radars ( 8 radars - red) and (modernization of 20 existing meteorological radars orange)Network in Northwestern Federal District - red.Network in Moscpw Region - blue.Network in Southern Federal District - yellow.