Project owner | Ministry of National Defence |
Project operator | Hellenic National Meteorological Service |
Budget | € 9,750,000.00 (exclusive of VAT) |
What is the object of the project?
The object of this project includes:
- Expanding the existing network of weather stations by adding new Hydrological Automatic Weather Stations (HAWS) to carry out quality control of data from weather radars and support the existing system. These stations are to set up in selected areas of Greece to measure, record and process critical hydrological meteorological data on a 24-hour basis.
- Setting up an Atmospheric Electrical Discharge (AED) detection network consisting of modern sensors for detecting AED phenomena, in order to monitor, record and statistically process the occurrence of AEDs.
- Upgrading the systems for the acquisition and processing of satellite data from the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites EUMETSAT, which will be compatible with the Organisation’s new generation MTG and METOP-II satellites.
The project includes setting up information systems for processing, archiving and generating meteorological products and making them available on the Web portal of the Hellenic National Meteorological Service.
What are the objectives of the project?
The objective of the project is to create the basic infrastructure of atmospheric data observation stations and detection sensors and to support the existing system, aiming primarily at detecting and monitoring severe weather phenomena. To attain the above objective, it is necessary to make the meteorological observation network denser and improve its quality by adding new electronic sensors, as well to automate and modernise the overall meteorological data collection and processing mechanism/system.
The individual objectives of the project are:
Objective 1: Upgrading the quality of forecasts by installing state-of-the-art automatic weather stations and electrical discharge detection stations, which will significantly improve the spatial and temporal analysis of the meteorological parameters recorded.
Objective 2: Reducing the time needed to process and transmit meteorological information by upgrading the processing power of the systems and the speed of the network installed at the headquarters of the Hellenic National Meteorological Service.
Objective 3: High availability (99.98% on an annual basis) of the meteorological information transmission system.
Objective 4: Creating new specialised meteorological products aimed to cover the needs of end users. Objective 5: Improving meteorological support and ensuring the optimal use of new information and communication technologies.
Who are the beneficiaries of the project?
Beneficiaries will be companies affected by meteorological information, citizens who need that information to plan their activities, government agencies and services whose mission is to provide meteorological support to relevant sectors (e.g. air navigation), as well as agencies associated with the Civil Protection Service.
The project will also significantly improve cost-effectiveness compared to the existing network, as people working shifts on 24-hour basis entail high operating costs, while the fully automated network to be set up under the project will have a very low operating cost and will be immediately available for use, to serve the needs of society as a whole.
Finally, as it is capable of providing accurate, certified in accordance with international standards, meteorological information in a timely manner, the project lays the ground for the creation and development of new products and services by economic operators, thus resulting in multiple benefits.
What are the expected benefits of the project?
The Hellenic National Meteorological Service, as an organisation intended to support the national economy and society as a whole, apart from having to carry out its basic day-to-day operations in support of the Civil Protection Service (provider of operational support for its work across Greek territory), aviation (exclusive provider of meteorological services) and shipping (exclusive provider of meteorological services for the Mediterranean and Black Sea region METAREA III), also has to cover a wide range of needs of both the market and ordinary Greek citizens.
However, meteorological support cannot be provided in the best possible and efficient way as the needs at hand in many cases are highly targeted and specialised and the equipment currently available to the Service does not cover the range of needs at hand and is to a certain extent technologically obsolete, or even non-existent in some cases, thus downgrading the role of the Service and its ability to respond to the daily needs of citizens, businesses and government bodies and agencies, the Civil Protection Service in particular, which is responsible for responding to adverse weather occurrences.
As a result, certain sectors that are critical for production and development such as tourism, energy and transport, as well as generally businesses or people operating outdoors or depending on weather forecasts are adversely affected in their effort to provide competitive products and services in an international environment, thus sustaining financial loss. The existing observation network is considered insufficient for accurately detecting severe weather phenomena throughout Greece, considering that such detection would upgrade the quality of weather forecasts to the desired level, primarily in non-urban and continental areas.
The existing observation network is considered insufficient for accurately detecting severe weather phenomena throughout Greece, considering that such detection would upgrade the quality of weather forecasts to the desired level, primarily in non-urban and continental areas. Therefore, upgrading the existing network of weather stations and atmospheric detection systems, especially in areas where it is difficult to record meteorological parameters, will contribute significantly to the detection and recording of severe weather phenomena, and of the evolution of those phenomena, thus providing significant and quality information to competent bodies, as well as to businesses and people.
The implementation of the project will result in a denser and more state-of-the-art national network of stations, will replace the existing atmospheric electrical discharges detection system, which is now considered obsolete, and will upgrade the system for the acquisition, processing and generation of satellite products, in order to optimise the recording of weather phenomena in Greece and thus provide more accurate and more integrated information to interested parties.