• Submitted by: admin
• Computers and Internet
• Granma
• Science and Technology
• 06 / 08 / 2007

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The meteorological radar station located in this coastal municipality in the province of Granma has just completed a full upgrade and automation process after Hurricane Dennis leveled the facility in mid-2005.

Located on top of the El Mamey hill some 500 meters above sea level, the station is considered one of the most important in Cuba and the Caribbean with an estimated reach of 450 kilometers.

The radar uses Russian technology (type mrl-5) and with the new technological upgrades of equipment, software and data transmissions guarantees more precise readings and improved surveillance of meteorological events in the surrounding area.

The original radar station was set up in 1987 and took up to twenty minutes to gather and process observations. The upgraded facility, with four additional surface stations, can capture, processes and transmit information via the Internet to the Institute of Meteorology in five minutes or less.

Dr.Tomas Gutierrez Perez, general director of the Cuban Institute of Meteorology, says that with the restoration and upgrade of this facility, re-inaugurated on World Environment Day, the country is better prepared for safeguarding the population and its assets. A total of eight Cuban radars are now automated.

Dr. Gutierrez specified that the project underway to remodel and modernize the 68 radar stations on the island will help make Cubas meteorological system among the best in the world.

Source: By Sara Sariol Sosa, Granma