Regional event-conference organized in Tbilisi
Hydrometeorology
The National Environmental Agency of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture organized an "Information Day for the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia" in Tbilisi, with the support of the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). During the meeting, participants discussed the activities of national meteorological and hydrological services in the region, as well as the use of meteorological satellite data in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe.
As Ramaz Chitanava, Head of the Hydrometeorology Department at the National Environment Agency, stated, "The information shared by the European Organization for Satellite Meteorology is very important for countries' meteorological and hydrological services. This information is actively used to make meteorological and hydrological forecasts, as well as to assess water resources, to perform glaciological monitoring and snow cover monitoring in high mountain areas, to improve the service of hydrometeorological information in various sectors of the economy, especially in the direction of agriculture, energy and transport.”
Joachim Saalmüller, Head of Customer Service and Satellite Services at EUMETSAT, noted that the information meeting aimed to present the latest satellite data to all regional partners from the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. The exchange of information within the framework of the meeting will enhance the efficient use of satellite information in the hydrometeorological services of the countries, thus improving the quality of economic sectors and hydrometeorological services' work.
A large-scale project funded by the Green Climate Fund, the governments of Switzerland and Sweden, is currently underway in Georgia, aiming to establish an effective early warning system for natural hydrometeorological phenomena in the country and improve agrometeorological services. The project involves a significant expansion of the ground-based network of meteorological and hydrological observations, as well as the introduction of modern models of weather forecasts and hydrology. Access to EUMETSAT satellite meteorological information is crucial to the project's success.
