RUSSIA HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL SERVICES MODERNIZATION

closed

The objective of the Second National Hydromet Modernization Project for Russian Federation is to further enhance the national capacity to deliver reliable and timely weather, hydrological, and climate information to the Russian public and economic sector and enhance Russia's capacity to integrate into the global system of meteorological services. The project has four components. The first component is strengthening Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and systems delivering weather, climate, and hydrological data and information. This component will strengthen the ICT infrastructure and technical capabilities in order to improve operational forecasting and other hydro meteorological products, support research on climate change, improve access to Roshydromet's data and information including to archived data. This component has following three sub-components: (i) strengthening technical capacity for operational hydro meteorological forecasting, research on climate and climate change; (ii) developing regional data storage and archive systems for improved operational user access to Roshydromet information resources; and (iii) improving Roshydromet's integrated information and telecommunication system. The second component is modernization of observation networks. The main objective of this component is modernization of equipment and technologies of key elements of Roshydromet's observation networks and integrated modernization of the hydrological network in the Volga river basin. It has following four sub-components: (i) development of meteorological observation system and improve reliability of operations and increase a number of automatically measured parameters; (ii) support completion of modernization of upper air network launched under Roshydromet-one project; (iii) strengthen satellite data reception capability of Roshydromet organizations; and (iv) support considerable improvement of hydrological services provided to the government and general public in the Volga river basin by modernizing hydrological network, improvement of reliability of hydrological forecasts and flooding. The third component is institutional and regulatory strengthening, improvement of service delivery to clients and better preparedness for emergencies. The objective of this component is to improve the performance of Roshydromet service in line with international experience, through capacity building of operational and research staff, improvement of service delivery in response to growing societal needs and better preparedness for emergency situations. It has following four sub-components: (i) support the improvement of Roshydromet's performance particularly focusing on delivery of public services; (ii) support improvement of service delivery to clients by better user needs assessment and introduction of modern information technologies to reduce the gap between user needs and ability to deliver them to users; (iii) support improved interaction with the ministry of emergency situations and other federal and territorial bodies responsible for early warning of dangerous hydro meteorological events and public safety; and (iv) provide support for strengthening Roshydromet's scientific and research potential on a range of operational themes aligned with modernization priorities. The fourth component is project management. This component will finance provision of consultants' services, provision of equipment to be used by Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and financing of operating costs, all in relation to management of project implementation.