Russia's meteorological network needs to be upgraded because it has become obsolete, Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Yury Trutnev said on Wednesday.
The Russian government in September 2010 approved a new meteorology development strategy which stipulates that 22 billion rubles ($704.55 million) will be allocated for the weather observation department up to 2030.
"The country's [weather] observation network, which has survived since soviet times, has degraded in terms of numbers and has become out-of-date in terms of the equipment's quality and needs to be reequipped," Trutnev said.
A complex system of ecological monitoring has been set up close to the southern Russian city of Sochi where the 2014 Olympics will be held, Trutnev said. This is one of the first steps towards the full modernization of the country's weather observation network.
Russia has 1,877 weather stations and 3,100 posts. More than 1,700 new weather bureaus are planned to come into service in line with the modernization.
MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti)
