The Ministry of Interior, Public Works and Housing, led by Rogelio Frigerio, inaugurated the first National Meteorological Radar (RMN, in Spanish) in the city of Río Grande, Province of Tierra del Fuego. It covers a range of 240 kilometers and will allow to anticipate real time actions in the face of severe weather conditions.
“In 2015, there were only two radars in operation, and now there are 11 covering 71% of the population. This is a State policy based on Argentine technology and innovation developed by INVAP, which will provide greater climatic certainty throughout the territory,” said the Secretary of Infrastructure and Hydraulic Policy, Pablo Bereciartua. He also remarked that “these radars contribute to provide more accurate weather forecasts, with real time information.”
The official presided over the inauguration ceremony together with the Governor of the Province of Tierra del Fuego, Roxana Bertone; the Coordinator of the Ministry of Interior in the Province, Federico Frigerio; and the provincial legislator and candidate for senator of “Juntos por el Cambio” Party, Pablo Blanco.
“We are setting up in the island this meteorological radar proudly developed by Argentinians, which will make it possible to preventively protect the people and their production, and to lead a more tranquil life,” Federico Frigerio pointed out in his turn.
“We are doing what needs to be done, sharing the same wish for an Argentina in earnest that invests in the future, and chooses not to go back,” he stated.
The inaugurated radar is the southernmost in the country, and is located at the naval aviation base of Río Grande. It will jointly operate as part of the National System of Meteorological Radars (SiNaRaMe, in Spanish).
Its location will allow to cover the Argentine sector, Tierra del Fuego’s Isla Grande, the Beagle Channel, the Strait of Magellan, and adjacent Chilean areas.
The SiNaRaMe radars, designed and manufactured by INVAP, were installed in different places of the country. In the first stage, the prototype of the Argentine Meteorological Radar (RMA 0) was located at the airport of the city of San Carlos de Bariloche, the RMA 1 in the city of Córdoba and the RMA 2 in Ezeiza, Province of Buenos Aires.
During the second stage of the project, beginning in 2016, nine more radars were installed in Las Lomitas (Province of Formosa), Bernardo de Irigoyen (Province of Misiones), Resistencia (Province of Chaco), Mercedes (Province of Corrientes), Termas de Río Hondo (Province of Santiago del Estero), Mar del Plata and Comandante Espora base in Bahía Blanca (Province of Buenos Aires), Neuquén city (Province of Neuquén), and the ninth one in Río Grande (Province of Tierra del Fuego).
All of them were designed to follow up in real time rain events within their coverage zone, and include short-term meteorological warning systems. They operate with double polarization C-band technology, which provides a better identification and definition of the most severe environmental contingencies, such as hail storms.
Besides, Automatic Meteorological Stations (EMAs, in Spanish), also developed by INVAP, were installed together with the radars. They were located within coverage area of the radars with the aim of contrasting the information received from the latter and provide information on several meteorological parameters.
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Ministry of Interior, Public Works and Housing
INVAP Defense and Security Web site
