By the end of the year, the nine islands of the Azores will be covered by 99 hydrometeorological stations, an investment of about one million Euros that will provide a detailed and timely knowledge of the hydrological cycle; the latter is essential for the protection of people and property in situations of extreme weather events, such as floods.
 
Designed and developed by technical and regional companies, involving the University of the Azores, the project to expand this network of stations to all islands of the Azores includes the Fonte do Trevo weather station, which the President of the Government, Vasco Cordeiro, visited on the second day of the Government's statutory visit to Corvo Island.
 
Overall, the Region will be provided with a network of 99 automatic hydrometric, pluviometric and weather stations with real-time data teletransmission.
 
In the context of the partnership with the University of the Azores, more specifically with the Centre for Information and Seismovolcanic Surveillance of the Azores (CIVISA), this initiative will carry out the monitoring and assessment of the conditions for the acquisition, transmission, reception and storage of data 24/7.
 
The data generated by this network contain basic information that, once properly processed by CIVISA, will be used for the issuance and dissemination of alerts in case of landslide and flood risks due to heavy rainfall. This process will also involve Civil Protection services.
 
The Azores Hydrometeorological Network project won the sixth edition of the Green Project Awards Portugal in the Information Technology category, whose development involved Global EDA.
 
After a first phase that covered the islands of São Miguel, Santa Maria and, partially, the island of Pico, the second phase of this project began in June 2015, with the awarding of the contract work for the installation of 40 new hydrometeorological stations on the islands of Pico, Faial, Terceira, São Jorge, Graciosa, Flores and Corvo.