Hydrometeorological Observatory

(GMO), the technical operational institutions of the Hydrometeorological Service of the USSR.

A hydrometeorological observatory studies hydrometeorological conditions, exercises methodological and technical supervision over a network of hydrometeorological stations and offices, and interprets hydrometeorological materials. It issues monthly publications, yearbooks, reference works, and atlases, which it provides to organizations of the national economy and to scientific and engineering institutions. A GMO has departments of meteorology and climate, land and sea hydrology, and agrometeorology, as well as a laboratory for studying the chemical composition of the air, the waters of the land and the seas, and so on. The so-called regimen GMO’s were established in 1956.

In addition to the regimen GMO’s that serve the territories of republics, krais, and oblasts, there are specialized GMO’s that have been set up to study the hydrometeorological regimen of such specific subjects of research as seas, reservoirs, and large lakes. Present-day GMO’s have radar systems that enable them to conduct weather observations within a radius of 300 km.