Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Measuring precipitation in Sicily

In Sicily, precipitation measurements started in 1795, at the Ossevatorio Astronomico di Palermo (Astronomic Observatory of Palermo). In 1876 the Ufficio Centrale di Metereologia (Central Office of Meteorology) was founded. Nevertheless only in 1921 the Servizio Idrografico (Ideographic Service) became operational installing a network of of audiometric stations. The measurements were collected and regularly published in the Annali Idrologici. More recently, in 2002, a network of stations operated in remote was started, this allows real time monitoring. Since 2006 the Servizio Idrografico has changed name and is now called Osservatorio delle Acque (Waters Observatory), this is a department of the Agenzia Regionale per I Rifiuti e le Acque ARRA (Regional Agency for Water and Garbage Management).

1795 - Ossevatorio Astronomico di Palermo (Astronomic Observatory of Palermo);
1876 - Ufficio Centrale di Metereologia (Central Office of Meteorology); Regio Ufficio Centrale di Metereologia e Geodinamica, Ministero dell'Agricoltura, Industria e Commercio;
Filippo Eredia collected and published measueremnts 1918 and 1925 (Ministero dei Lavori Publlici);
1921 - Servizio Idrografico (Ideographic Service); Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici;
2006 - Osservatorio delle Acque (Waters Observatory);

Other networks belongs to:
Ufficio Centrale di Ecologia Agraria (UCEA);
Ufficio Metereologico dell'Areonautica Militare (SMAM);
Ufficio Informantivo Agrometereologico della Sicilia (SIAS);
Enti e Privati;