KFU astronomers first to offer innovative technique of meteorological forecasting based on satellite monitoring

KFU astronomers first to offer innovative technique of meteorological forecasting based on satellite monitoring 23.01.2023

The Department of Radio Astronomy is a recipient of the Russian Science Foundation’s grant for its project ‘Monitoring of convection processes by satellite navigation systems’.

Project lead, Professor Olga Khutorova mentions that KFU is the only institution in Russia to implement continuous measurements of mesoscale time and space structure of water vapor in the troposphere with satellite navigation signals.

“Water vapor accounts for 75% of the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. Most research teams in the world only follow its liquid ratio, but more complex dependencies are not well studied. Phase transitions of this greenhouse gas are linked with heat emission in the atmosphere. In order to quickly forecast fast-moving dangerous weather patterns, experimental data must be observed on a wider time and space scale. And for that, we need more global positioning equipment,” says she.

Satellite receivers for the project are located on the roof of the Institute of Physics building, one of the twin high-rises of the University’s central campus.

In the course of this project, the team is going to collect and process convection data and suggest computational models for weather forecasting.

KFU/ astronomers


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