On Friday, the Regional Secretary of Science, Technology and Equipment signed, in Ponta Delgada, a protocol regarding the installation of the climate monitoring station in the island of Graciosa. This protocol was signed within the ambit of the Agreement for Co-Operation and Defence between Portugal and the United States of America. 

The contract, underwritten by José Contente, concerns the installation, by the Department of Energy of the United States, of a mobile infra-structure for the Investigation of the Mediation of Atmospheric Radiation and Climatic Changes. 

The equipment to be installed will collect and interpret climatic data and will make an important contribution for the international research community and for ongoing research regarding climatic changes, José Contente said. He added that as a consequence of this initiative, the island of Graciosa will henceforth join the global network of climate monitoring. It will be one of five such climate monitoring stations. 

According to the Regional Secretary of Science, Technology and Equipment, the monitoring station will also reinforce the practical know-how of the Meteorological Institute of the University of the Azores (UAç), thus enabling " the Azores to benefit from more advanced knowledge in this domain that are important for the Civil Protection Services, for instance." 

This project of bilateral co-operation, established through the American Embassy in Lisbon, is an important lever of the modernity that is sought by the Regional Government in the technological domain and in the creation of an information, communication and innovation society. 

According to José Contente, the monitoring station of Graciosa will contribute to an improvement of the global climatic models through the development and testing of improved representations of the processes of radiation and cloud-formation. 

Its privileged location in the islands' aerodrome, chosen because it is the flatest in the archipelago, offers a unique opportunity for the study of the stratospheric system of low-altitude clouds in sub-tropical oceans that are poorly represented in climatic models and cause great uncertainty in the predictions of climatic changes. 

With the signing of the protocol for the installation of the equipment, another step in the creation of a technological and scientific cluster in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. José contente said that "it is not enough to speak about the Information and Knowledge Society, of the advantages of the technologies of modernity. It is imperative to move ahead with concrete projects that embody this new paradigm that serves the Azores", particularly in the matters pertaining to scientific development and qualified employment. 

In the view of José Contente, through this project the Azores advance into other challenges that the Region wishes to win with "credible and strong partners" that help us launch a new scientific and technological paradigm.