Posted by: Michele Smith, Commercial Officer, Olena Stephanska, Senior Commercial Specialist, and Anatoliy Sakhno, Commercial Specialist, U.S. Commercial Service Ukraine
On October 25 in Kyiv, a U.S. company Earth Networks (EN) and its partner, the Ukraine Hydrometeorology Institute (UHMI) publicly launched their nationwide Severe Weather Early Warning System (EWS) for Ukraine. The EWS provides real-time warning of heavy rains, high winds, and hail, which is used by government agencies and customers like civil aviation authorities, to save lives.
AP Photo
In addition to its sensors in Ukraine, EN has more than 10,000 additional sensors worldwide. EN integrates the information provided by these sensors with information from the U.S. National Weather Service and the World Meteorological Organization. This extensive weather network – in conjunction with proprietary forecasting algorithms and technology – provides the most current conditions, refreshed every few minutes, from more than 2.6 million locations worldwide.
U.S.-Ukrainian cooperation in this area began in early 2016 when EN and UHMI signed a cooperation agreement. Immediately following this, EN installed 12 sensors in Ukraine, allowing EN and UHMI to launch their Severe Weather Early Warning System in July. Moving forward, UHMI and EN plan to jointly market and sell their weather data services to businesses and government organizations. Ukraine’s civil aviation authority is already a customer and EN and UHMI plan to bring more clients into the network over the next several years.
To demonstrate the full capability and value of their meteorological data services, EN, UMHI, and the U.S. Commercial Service in Kyiv recently conducted a seminar for prospective end-users. George Kent, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine welcomed over 30 attendees from both the government and private sectors including; the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Authority, as well as multiple airports, energy companies, gas station chains, and agricultural companies.
AP Photo
In his opening remarks, Mr. Kent underscored the importance of the EN-UMHI partnership: “Today’s event is not only a seminar about a useful technology with life-saving public benefits, but it is also about international collaboration. This system is the product of collaboration between two innovative companies – Earth Networks from the United States and the Ukrainian Hydro-Meteorology Institute.”
Indeed, the EN-UHMI partnership represents another step for Ukraine towards global integration, given that various mission-critical organizations in the U.S. and EU are already part of this global network. For example, EN’s global network, which now includes Ukraine, also includes countries such as Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Croatia, Georgia, Turkey, and Israel.
Comments