TOMSK, June 10. /TASS/. Scientists of the Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Monitoring of Climate and Ecology Systems (IMCES) made a prototype of a universal, fully automatic meteorology station to monitor climate conditions in the Arctic. In 2020, trials will be in the Tomsk Region, and by 2022 the weather station will appear on the market, IMCES’ Deputy Director Vladimir Korolkov told TASS on Wednesday.
In 2018, the institute’s scientists jointly with experts from a local equipment design company Sibanalitpribor began working on the first Russian meteorology station, which could work in the Arctic, using acoustic, optical and radiation methods, to measure speed and direction of the wind, the air’s temperature and humidity, the atmospheric pressure, the precipitation’s rates, the solar radiation and height of the snow cover. Unlike existing models, the new weather station should work independently for one year, it will use the solar energy and must be safe from the Arctic fauna.
"We have finalized the experimental sample," the institute’s representative said. "Trials at Roshydromet (weather authority) facilities in the Tomsk Region have begun."
The station has all the announced functions and uses hydrogen fuel and solar batteries, he said. "We now continue trials here, and later on will have trials [in the Arctic]. The climate here is continental, not much different from the Arctic’s - similar temperatures, though for shorter periods. Our northern regions are in the Arctic zone already."
By 2022, the equipment will appear in the market. Prior to that, it should be certified by local and international regulators (including for installation at airports).
Earlier, the institute’s deputy director said Russian meteorology stations still employ personnel, who take by hand all the measures and every three hours send results to the processing center. Importing weather systems is too expensive. Besides, foreign models measure only a limited number of parameters and they do not have any protection from animals.