Ethiopia’s National Meteorological Agency is to launch a radar system in Bahir dar to increase the agencies data collection.
The system is expected to cost 4 million US dollars and is being funded by the World Bank.
The project, which will be a part of the Tana Beles Hydro Power plant, will help to monitor climate changes for the dam according to Hailu Wudineh, Director of Public Relations with the agency.
The radar system will employ state of the art technology to monitor national atmosphere and read weather patterns explained Hailu.
In related news NMA is exerting effort to contribute to agricultural productivity by enhancing its meteorological services to international standards. The agency with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation has been working on the application of agro-metrological methods with model farmers in Oromia regional state said Hailu.The Rockefeller Foundation granted 250,000 US dollars to implement the first phase of the project it was said.
The agency has been engaged in several efforts to enhance its activities and as of January is offering high quality and detailed climate information with analysis for the last 30 years on its website explained Kinfe Hailemariam, Meteorological Instruments and ICT Director with the Agency.
The information online is made available with statistical tools to analyze the data while the same information is also made available at woreda, zone and regional levels he noted.
The agency operates 1150 meteorological stations across the country, 37 of which are automatic, and has plans to launch 20 more automatic stations in the near future said Hailu.
It is to be remembered that the Special Envoy to the Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization, Alioune Ndiaye visited Ethiopia for the celebration of World Meteorological Day.
Source: Capital/ Ethiopia Press Agency
