FAPESP, in partnership with the Council of Hydrometeorology (Cehidro), of the State Department of Science, Technology and Economic Development (SCTDE), is launching the program Integrated System of Hydrometeorology of the State of São Paulo (Sihesp). The program is going to bring together a group of researchers on water resources – both on the surface and underground as well as in the atmosphere -, whose results will allow the productivity sector, and society as a whole, to have available reliable meteorological information that will permit the forecasting of short, medium and long term.
The expectation is that close to 60 projects will participate in the selection. “Last year we asked those interested to send us pre-projects so that we could evaluate the program, which was in the planning phase. At that time we received some 68 requests. We suppose that now it won’t be different”, says Luiz Nunes, assistant coordinator to the Foundation. The major part of the resources that FAPESP will be destining to Sihesp – something around R$ 15 million – will finance the purchase of equipment such as meteorology radars, wind profilers, monitors for sea conditions, and meteorological networks that will be used for the development of diverse research projects.
The Secretary will come in with counter financing that will include the installation, maintenance and operation of these observational networks. Once the projects are concluded, the equipment will be donated to institutions that the researchers were linked to. Requests for financing can be sent to FAPESP until the 14th of December to be evaluated by a team of international advisers. “Very probably, the results will be published by the middle of February”, says Luiz Nunes. The projects will be analyzed as individual assistant projects. Those approved will be able to draw on support for the research for a period of two years, which can be extended, depending upon the stage of development of the project.
The results of the research work, advances Nunes, should have a strong impact in the prevention of floods, on civil defense, on reforestation programs, among others. Another objective of the program is to develop technologies that will allow for the evaluation of reservoir waters, of the warming of reservoirs, of the deforestation of the Serra do Mar (Sea Ridge) or of the pollution of the Guarani aquifer.
Research areas of the Sihesp program
– Meteorology
– Surface Hydrology
– Subterranean Water
– Remote Censoring of the Atmosphere
– Water resources and Sanitation
– Coastal Oceanography and Coastal Management
– Agriculture
– The Environment
– Social Economic Effects
