The Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service ( or DHMZ) is a public entity for
meteorology
Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...
,
hydrology
Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...
and
air quality
Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...
in
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
.
History
DHMZ was founded 1947 and since then it is located on Grič 3 in Upper Town, old part of
Zagreb
Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...
. Before Croatia gained independence in 1991, it meteorological and hydrological service has been a part of the meteorological and hydrological service in the former
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
. After Croatia gaining independence, DHMZ operates as a state service. Since 1992, Croatia has been a member of the
World Meteorological Organization
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...
, United Nations' agency specialized in weather, climate and water.
It is important to say that, although DHMZ was founded in 1947, the oldest Croatian
meteorological station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...
operating continuously was Zagreb-Grič, established in 1861 and DHMZ has such invaluable data in its responsibility.
Mission
The DHMZ supports the economic and
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...
of Croatia and assists in the protection of lives, goods and the environment by providing information on the following: weather, climate, hydrological and ecological events and
climate extremes with the aim of mitigating their consequences in line with WMO recommendations and
EU directives.
The DHMZ manages the meteorological and hydrological infrastructure, air quality monitoring infrastructure, as well as the national archives of meteorological, hydrological and other relevant data.
The DHMZ is a reliable and reputable international partner, particularly in southeastern and central Europe.
DHMZ activities
- Construction of infrastructure and measurement systems, as well as planning and maintenance of all kinds of meteorological and hydrological stations and air quality measurement stations
- Development and maintenance of various databases (meteorological, hydrological, air quality)
- Provision of information on meteorology, hydrology and air quality to users (the DHMZ issues warnings and produces analyses, forecasts, studies and surveys). This is achieved through the application of scientific methods and the use of powerful computers and sophisticated software in producing
numerical model
Computer simulation is the running of a mathematical model on a computer, the model being designed to represent the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be determin ...
s
- Applied scientific research and development of methods designed to enhance the quality of information which the DHMZ offers to its users.
- Operational implementation of
hailstorm
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...
defense
- DHMZ products/services are used in the following areas: public information services, physical planning, Construction, strategic planning, urban planning, architecture, water resource management, electricity resource management, traffic, healthcare, sports, physical recreation, environment and nature protection, agriculture, civil protection, protection of lives
National meteorological and hydrological infrastructure and air quality monitoring infrastructure (as of 31/12/2015)
Meteorological station network:
40 main meteorological stations
104 climatological stations
339 rain fall stations
22 totalisers
Hydrological station network
487 surface water measurement stations
698 groundwater measurement stations
10 background stations
9 urban stations
Other:
59 phenological stations
8 radars
2 radiosonde stations
1 sodar
The membership and partnership with international and intergovernmental organizations and programs
WMO- World Meteorological Organization,
ECMWF- European Centre for Medium - Range Weather Forecasts
EUMETSAT- EUMETSAT - European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
-
EUMETNET - Network of European Meteorological Services
- ECOMET - Economic Interest Grouping of the National Meteorological Services of the European Economic Area
- GEO - Group on Earth Observations
- IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- ALADIN - International consortium for high Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction Model
LACE- RC LACE - Regional Cooperation for Limited Area modeling in Central Europe
- JCOMM - Joint WMO/lOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology
- GCOS - Global Climate Observing System
- EMEP - Cooperative Program for the Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe
- EFAS - The European Flood Awareness System
* ICCED - Informal Conference of Central European Directors of hydrological and Meteorological Services
* ICSEED - Informal Conference of South-East European NMHS Directors
- HyMEX - Hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment
- IRBC - International Sava River Basin Commission
Noted employees
*
Milan Sijerković
See also
Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, University of ZagrebCroatian Meteorological Society
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{authority control
Scientific organizations established in 1947
Government agencies of Croatia
Governmental meteorological agencies in Europe
1947 establishments in Croatia
Organizations based in Zagreb