• History
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• Cooperation
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Cooperation

Since 1992, the Republic of Lithuania is a Member of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) – a specialized UN agency. The Director of Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service (LHMS) is a Permanent Representative of Lithuania with WMO and participates in its constituent body sessions and congresses with full powers.

In December 2004, a Cooperating State Agreement was concluded between the Republic of Lithuania and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). This Agreement was subsequently ratified by the Seimas (Parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania and entered into force on 7 November 2006 for the period until 31 December 2009. By the end of 2009, the Agreement has been prolonged for 2010-2011, subject to parliamentary ratification. And since 8 December 2008, the Director of LHMS Mrs Vida Augulienė has been the elected Chairperson of EUMETSAT Advisory Committee of Cooperating States (EACCS).

In 2005, LHMS concluded with Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Agency an Agreement on the Exchange of Hydrometeorological Information, and with Department of Hydrometeorology of the Ministry for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus – a Programme of Operational Working Cooperation for 2005-2006.

In May 2006, a Cooperation Agreement was concluded between the Republic of Lithuania and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The Agreement had been ratified by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and entered into force on 20 November 2006.

In 2007, LHMS signed two international agreements and a bilateral cooperation programme: on 24 July 2007 - on participation in the EUMETNET optional programme EUMETCAL, on 11 December 2007 – on accession to associated membership in the HIRLAM-A project, and a programme of operational working cooperation with the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of the Russian Federation for 2008-2009.

In April 2008, LHMS signed a programme of operational working cooperation with the Department for Hydrometeorology of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus for 2008-2009.

In 2009, LHMS concluded a cooperation agreement with the State Hydrometeorological Service of the Republic of Moldova and a contract with the Central Institute of Meteorology of Geodynamics of the Republic of Austria for participation in the SatRep programme of EUMETNET. Also, the agreement on accession to associated membership in the HIRLAM-A project was prolonged until the end of 2010 on request by LHMS. On 29 December 2009, an Amendment to the Cooperating State Agreement between the Republic of Lithuania and EUMETSAT was signed, extending the validity of the Agreement until 31 December 2011. The Amendment was ratified by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania on November 12 and entered into force on November 29, 2010.

In 2010, LHMS signed a Programme of Operational Working Cooperation with the Department for Hydrometeorology of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus for 2010-2011, and a Cooperation Agreement for Participation in EUMETNET Programmes EUMETCAL and SatRep, replacing separate bilateral documents signed in 2007 and 2009.

In December 2011, the Second Amendment to the Cooperating State Agreement between the Republic of Lithuania and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) was signed, extending the validity of the Cooperating State Agreement until 31 December 2013, and the Agreement between the Republic of Lithuania and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) concerning the Accession of the Republic of Lithuania to the Convention for the Establishment of a European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and Related Terms and Conditions, effective from 1 January 2014. Both agreements are subject to ratification by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.

In 2012, LHMS signed a Programme of Operational Working Cooperation with the Department for Hydrometeorology of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus for 2012-2017, and a Programme of Operational Working Cooperation with the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of the Russian Federation for 2012-2014.

On 28 February 2013, LHMS signed a new agreement with EUMETNET, extending cooperation with the Network of European Meteorological Services until the end of 2017.

LHMS also has concluded:

• Bilateral cooperation agreements with:
  • Department of Hydrometeorology of the Ministry for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus,
  • Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management,
  • Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring;
• Jointly with the Environmental Protection Agency – an agreement on cooperation in transboundary surface water monitoring and exchange of monitoring information with:
  • Kaliningrad Hydrometeorological and Environmental Monitoring Centre of the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, and
  • Latvian Hydrometeorological Agency;
• Multilateral cooperation agreement (BALTMET) between Estonian Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Latvian Hydrometeorological Agency, Norwegian Meteorological Institute and Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute.
• Other agreements with:
  • Czech Hydrometeorological Institute on the installation and maintenance of a CLIDATA climatological database,
  • Equant Ltd (UK) on the provision of WMO Regional Meteorological Data Communication Network (RMDCN) service.

	Network of European Meteorological Services	Participation in EUMETNET's meteorological computer-aided learning programme EUMETCAL
	WMO World Cities Forecasts project	WMO World Weather Information Service is provided with 5-day forecasts for 3 Lithuanian cities on a daily basis as well as with climate information. The information is posted at http://www.worldweather.org/
	HIRLAM (High Resolution Limited Area Modelling) project	Adaptation of the model to Lithuania’s territory, participation in meetings and other project activities
	CEE–WMO/GWP Associated Programme on Flood Management) programme	Cooperation in implementation of the joint flood management programme for Central and Eastern Europe, participation in workshops, submission of information on the largest floods in Lithuania
	CLIPS (Climate Information and Prediction Services) programme	Cooperation in the development of climate information and climate prediction systems and investigations on the climate change, exchange of information and participation in conferences
	NAVTEX safe navigation programme	Origination and transmission of marine hydrometeorological forecasts and warnings for Southeast Baltic twice per day. This information is broadcast to ships though NAVTEX system, a part of the global marine emergency communication and safe navigation system
	WOUDC (World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre)	Regular provision of national ozone and ultraviolet solar radiation data with reciprocal right to access the WOUDC global database
	CLIDATA (Climatological Database) joint project with the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute	Created and implemented a CLICOM climatological database to store, systemize and analyze meteorological observation data including their presentation facilitated by a GIS application. Stations’ metadata are also stored in the database
	Global Climate Observation System (GCOS)	Cooperation in climate observation, assessment of climate variability, exchange of information, participation in the East and Central Europe’s working group. Since 2007, meteorological station Vilnius has been included in the GCOS Global Surface Network (GSN)
	WMO-supported Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC)	Cooperation in creating world river runoff database by provision of hydrological observation data and metadata on Lithuanian rivers with reciprocal right to access the GRDC global database
	EUMETSAT-sponsored international training project to support and increase the use of meteorological satellite data	Participation in remote weather briefing sessions and series of lectures