The President of the Government attended this morning one of the four daily launchings of a balloon equipped with a transmitter that collects data about atmospheric radiation, clouds, aerosols and rainfall.

The information is continuously provided until the balloon disintegrates, which occurs at an altitude about of 25 km, being subsequently provided to the international scientific community over the Internet.

This is the ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement) project, from the United States Department of Energy, which the Regional Government has joined “with a great satisfaction,” as Carlos César stressed. In addition, the President mentioned that the Government is in charge of the choice of the appropriate partners for the project, such as the University of the Azores and the Institute of Meteorology.

Stressing that the privilege relation of the Azores with the United States, through a cooperation agreement between Portugal and that country, enables the Region to become a logistic platform to implement actions that take place under that agreement, Carlos César considered that this project will bring more prominence, not only to Graciosa, as one of the five places in the world chosen for these studies, but also the entire Archipelago.

Furthermore, there is even the possibility that the mobile structure of the ARM project, installed in two containers in the Graciosa airport near the air terminal, may become permanent.

The President of the Government assured that “if this is the case, the Government of the Azores will naturally support it,” adding that the Station of the ARM project is not the result of an isolated attractiveness, but rather it is integrated in the new centralities created in the Azores.

Thus, Carlos César gave examples of the ESA and Edisoft station on Santa Maria, the Pico-Nare project, which is also related to the environmental issues, and the new geodesia and radio astronomy stations on Flores and Santa Maria. All these stations have brought the Region closer to the new research centres, providing it the accreditation to implement this type of infrastructures.

For the President of the Government, “these projects do not appear by change,” adding that they are “the result of a continuous work developed by the Azorean Government in order to manage this attractiveness.”