NATIONAL HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL SERVICE IN UKRAINE - CENTURY OF SYSTEM OBSERVATIONS AND FORECASTS (1921-2021)

2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the National Hydrometeorological Service in Ukraine. The purpose of this study is to summarize the general history of the meteorological service and focus on the period that began in 1991 - during the independence of Ukraine, as at this time was the formation of the national hydrometeorological service. On November 19, 1921, the decree of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic «On the Meteorological Service in Ukraine» was signed. In 1991, the State Committee of Ukraine for Hydrometeorology was established. To overcome the problems faced by the Hydrometeorological Service of Ukraine in 1993, measures were developed to stabilize and maintain the functioning of the service in conditions of insufficient financial and logistical support. In 1999, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine «On Hydrometeorological Activity», in which: the term «national hydrometeorological service» appeared; the principles of state policy in the field of hydrometeorological activity; the legal status of the service were established. In order to create a branch of hydrometeorological instrument making in 1996, the Government of Ukraine adopted the State Program «Meteorology». To strengthen the study of global and regional climate change in 1997, the Climate Program of Ukraine was adopted. The meteorological service was equipped with technical means of foreign production. A powerful computer was purchased for the Ukrainian Meteorological Center, and a high-resolution data reception system from the Meteosat satellite was put into operation. The first Doppler meteorological radar in Ukraine was installed at the Ukrainian Aviation Meteorological Center (Boryspil).Since 2012, the Department of Hydrometeorology has been part of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES). The Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center (UMMC) is the main organization of SES for hydrometeorological activities. 25 organizations of the Hydrometeorological Service, which have a status of a legal entity, are subordinate to UHMC with operational issues. At present about 4,200 employees work in the Hydrometeorological Service, of which almost 50% have higher education.