About us
The Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMU) is a specialized organization providing hydrological and meteorological services at the national and international level. The SHMU was established by the former Ministry of Forestry and Water Management on 1 January 1969, and the scope of its activities is currently laid down in Act no. 201/2009 on state hydrological and meteorological services. The SHMU is the successor of institutions that were providing hydrological and meteorological services in Slovakia from the mid-19th century. It is state-subsidised organisation operating under the Slovak Ministry of Environment.
The SHMU's activities include the following: monitoring of quantitative and qualitative parameters of the air and water in Slovak territory; collecting, verifying, interpreting and archiving data and information on the condition and regime of air and water; describing developments in the atmosphere and hydrosphere; and issuing forecasts, warnings and other information regarding the atmosphere and hydrosphere. All the aforementioned data, information and other research are made available to the public.
The SHMU obtains most of its data on the quantity and quality of air and water from the various monitoring facilities of the state hydrological and meteorological network. There were 3,884 such facilities in 2011 and they comprised the following:
| Network specification | Number of facilities |
State meteorological network |
|
| meteorological stations | 34 |
| climatological stations (voluntary) | 73 |
| rain-gauge stations | 550 |
| automatic rain-gauge stations | 76 |
| solar radiation measuring stations | 5 |
| meteorological mast observatories (masts 200m, 40m) | 2 |
| agro-meteorological stations (51 stations measuring ground temperature, 4 stations measuring ground humidity) | 55 |
| phenological stations | 218 |
| air quality monitoring stations | 38 |
| monitoring stations for regional air pollution and rainwater quality | 4 |
| monitoring stations for environmental radioactivity | 26 |
| total atmospheric ozone measuring station | 1 |
| aerological station | 1 |
| radar observatories | 2 |
State hydrological network |
|
| surface water measuring stations | 420 |
| spring monitoring facilities | 361 |
| groundwater observation boreholes | 1135 |
| monitoring sites and facilities for collecting data on surface water quality (including the automatic warning station) | 448 |
| monitoring facilities for groundwater quality | 435 |
One of the SHMU's most relevant task is to provide information about air and water as well as about the weather and hydrological situation. A key aspect of the institute's activities in this regard is international cooperation and the exchange of data with counterpart services abroad.
The main task is to operate an integrated nation-wide monitoring system for all key aspects of the atmosphere and hydrosphere: i.e. water quality and quantity, air quality, weather, climate, and environmental radioactivity. In this regard, the SHMU's principal activities include:
- managing the state hydrological and meteorological networks;
- providing information on atmosphere, air quality, climate, water sources, and environmental radioactivity, at the national and international level;
- producing and distributing weather forecasts and hydrological forecasts, and issuing warnings on dangerous hydrometeorological phenomena (such as high smog or ozone levels, radioactive contamination), for the government, state administration bodies, municipalities, crises management authorities, the general public, and other domestic and foreign customers;
- monitoring climate system development;
- participating in the planning, arrangement and analysis of environmental projects;
- participating in the development of strategic and conceptual documents for the environmental management in Slovakia;
- participating in the reporting process to the EC, OECD, WMO and other national and international organizations;
- collecting, processing and evaluating national air emissions;
- coordinating the national programme of air and water monitoring;
- reporting meteorological and hydrological data and radioactivity data to the WMO on-line telecommunication system;
- providing meteorological data for civil aviation;
- providing data, information and know-how for the Hydrometeorological Service of the Slovak Armed Forces.