HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL SERVICE OF THE U.S.S.R.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81-01026R000100010001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 27, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 11, 1948
• Content Type: IR

C.I.G.
FORM 51.4
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INTEL GENCE REPORT
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED
Hydrometeorologioal Service in U.S.S.R.
REPORT NO. RC 1
15571
DATE DISTR.11 FI' 1
NO. OF PAGES 8
NO. OF ENCLS. None
(LISTED BELOW)
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THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE ESPIONAGE ACT SO
U. S. C.. 31 AMD 32 AS AMENDED ITS TRANSMISSION OR THE REVELATION
VISITED BY LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED HOW.
EVER. INFORMATION CONTAINED IN BODY OF THE FORM MAY BE UTILIZED
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION FOR THE
RESEARCH USE OF TRAINED INTELLIGENCE ANALYSTS,
Doculntary as indicated in text.
HYDRUV TSORO ICAL S ;D ICE OF ' U.S.S.R. (GNUS) (GTORDM LIUZHBA)
1. The Hy'drometeorological Services of the USSR. ,L/ also referred to as the All
Union FWdrometeerclogical Institute, 1 (and hereafter referred to as HUB) services the
national eeonorr and-the defense of the nation with information concerning the status of
the weher, of the rivers and of the seas, and also with prognostications of the weather,
of the thaw and freezing of rivers, etc. (Tjis organization) also studies the climate
and precipitation of the country.
The service of this unit is based on the daily observations of a wide network of
hydrological and meteorological stations. To this organization belongs a series of
scientific institutes : institutes of weather, hydrological institutes, institutes of
experimental meteorology, the main geophysical observatory and also higher educational
institutions and "teknikuns". J
2. The following brief sketch indicates the position of the 1 'LS in the overall
governmental structure of the USSR.
Other ninistrative Organizations
Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1. Councils
Ministry of Health 2. C#ees
Ministry, etc. 3. .in Ainistrations
ai^ teorological Services
b. Civil Air Fleet
c. Northern Sea Route
d. etc.
4. Qthee
Abridged Soviet Encyclopedia, Moscow 1943 (Unela-ssitied)
Department of State, Incoming Telegram, Akoscow, No. 2729, Aug. 28, 1947 (Confidential)
ADSO
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DOPC
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IRS
CLASSIFICATION omen
--N ILL :
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The Lain Administration of the F drometeorological Service. is at to
the Council of Peoples Commissars (row designated Council of Min et.ex ),
As set *p by law in 1939, the adudzisbm-tive organization fts- made of a Chief,
and two (2) Deputies, one of whom was nominated by the Civil Aviation Aim n3.stration
(now designated Main Administration of the Civil Air Fleet), and the following
& ordinate units :
Meteorological AdL nistration
Hydrological Administration
. ultural-Hydrometeorological Section
Marine Hydro t orsl ogicai Section
Section for Defer
Section for Cadres
Section for Ed eati.onal Institutions
PSG won
Fire Section
Suction for Productionnterprises and Supply
Ce aati?rne Sector
Ga .ta1 Construction Sector
AdVAzd tx'ative Economic Section
n,. aria
o, Archives
In addition there was a Council under the supervision of the Chief.
it/ (Undoubtedly changes have occurred since 1939 but this is a general outline.)
3, Dr. of Gec aphical Sciences, Lt. Gen-, nvgenii Konstaritinovitch F1 @V,
was f i t i hied as fief of this Service, May 2.5, 1941 -1 and held tiw* - ion
r 3. 3wokoubw 194% It ha s ? b erg. reported thet 1'edorov waa supposed to xbtend t
..+ ' teoro . cal Gbatei-ence. in 'Washington, D, C. SeptoAker - O r LL,
1 **7 th - at the last maw the Russian government m%Ldfied the gonter"ce that
Podww lid. been given a new sasign t and that their delegation woz, d eensi of
V. A. D a And V. S yr ikov a (It is not known whether Uryaev, chief delegate,
has replaced Fedorov as Head of the I r .. )
Y# ov 303AMsonevt-ah LZBIN was appoi.4ti First Deputy on June 26, 19ivl and as
of :arch 3, 1943 VOLIWaI HIKOV was a member of the Board (probably simi3W to the
e it referred to above) and handled political matters..
The official journals of this organization are "Meteorologiya I Gidrologiya'x
( voteo r and Iiydroi r) and "I ageda" (Weather). 11 Both are issued from the
lAniAgrad Publi hi:ng House, 53 V.O. 2 Liniya, D. 23, Komn 25, Tel. 90-99 with offices
in s at UL--Gorikoyo D 18A Tel. IC4 %05 under an editorial board composed of
the following : 6 /
N. N.: GRIB iOV T. V. FOKROVSKAYA
L. K. DAVYDOV A. A. SOKOLOV
V. K.Aa _ V L. I.YUDIII
L. I. L' VICH
4. In 1945 the HAS urtook measures for considerable wquumian in orb to
satisfy the needs of different branches of the national eeonam an a ;3rr scale with
the following improvements :
a. From 1941-1945 two hundred and sixty-eight (268) uimetfl stations and posts
were constructed, and in. 1945 an additional four hundred and forty-three (443) were
added. At that time it was stated that exp ion would be even greater during the
* 1xe of i ate, , ' , sport Sec2ret
Library, of Goongress, "Sobrani.ze I ostonovlenii, i Rosporyazhenii,, SSSR (USSR) 1939,
ork of the 3 romet logica] ", V. I. Kiremp
@(~!3"E3I $
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next few years, J a statement which was substantiated by Fedorov at -a co rent y
scientists at :Moscow in 1946 when he claimed seven-thous,and (7!000) tatWitations
wer* corxi ting observations a , th t the new Five Year Plan (1 46 1 5O) ?pro
for axi irrease to twenty' 'thousand (2O
b, A strict, sy*te t. of -qua! tty c antrol for the information- of t he? ;net, was
is . It is the reacpc sibi.lity of the d 2ectors of the met stati '`to
y tit ally follow the, work of those posts' whose work is -defective. A sy " of
t e l training has been eatabli& ted for net workerg, all cartegories''of- have
to poes an exami. ation for minimum technical knowledge. In the future daily i==ages will
be based on technieal examinations and results of practical work and promotion will
also depend on the rebeliv of these tests.
c. Dss?criI *j' - rdre aphic surveys of rivers-, lakes and marshes were
completed and an iniV tbry of all- r'i em' of the "U'S3Fi; 10 kns. in length and over, was
submitted by the ry,et"atations to-the ydroloti:cal Institute (GGI).
d. C atr i;eal handbooks and- descriptive summaries were edited which will
be the basis for thy: iat? rn of the "Climatic Atlas of the USSR" scheduled for
publication in 1'949.
e. A p'oj t_ on the real! ton and distribution of the principal net of
stations was ina iaaed.
f, The aao + of instruments was also provided for by the inauguration
of central testes' at the Hydrological Division (GGO) and the Hydrological
Institute .il) and the reestablishment of testing bureaus at Rostof and Sevastopol,
8 O eotal sion vmm instituted to exa tine the re1iabi.:ki of
observation data, u cvr defects and recomitend solutions. All of their findings will
be pu .shod in a ra .etio - to Hy ometteorological Stations .ate Post . r g
by ,,, gal p alcal Observatory, by the State, -F drol i al. '4 tile o,f' tfte *at r of U#ar and the ate Oceanographical. Institute, W
5jj_ T! ?o3low?ng is a partial list of those institut ons attached to or directly
logical Institute, Leningrad
'of. A. K. KI rIAN
vXqaftisatloh sponsored an expedition which studied the, wins of the
` bairi 'alleys and- glaciers in Digaria, -a Mountainous region in the
b* ate H dr L ieal Inst Lute
B .eb SO OWOVSKY of the Institute was a e &i
Pr e d Class (100.,000) rubles) for his hater Resources of the Rivers
of the Industrial Urals and the Method of their Calculation". 1
.x 4e. Astrological Observatory
Ddx4atw- :9 ' . Lt. George GOLTSHE?
Observatory
=oil includes Academiean (Cc r) Berg ant
:i ,
U SI t V who are currently charting t4n4 a ,"a?
,,he 1-dr eteorological Nit" V I.
( a l o g y and Hydrology) No. 3, i 1946
o zti:on Bulletin, hsay of the USSR, August 1945, Vol V, No. 85
46.(Ussified)
8 E C R E T
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S C R E T tAORT NO.: RC 1 (eo
e.. khelson Meteerfl1egic&l. and A t c etrical Observatory
of Ge+ ;ye-ice." Observatory
11
Sate Oceanographic Institute
Director, Rear Admiral N. N. ZUBOV.13
IRead, A. J. CHUDNOVSKY
I. G. LU`f1STEIN 11
k. 3 itute of Frost Study
Director., A. M. CHI 4OTILLU (as of 1945)
liar Scientific Collaborator, S. F. KACHURIN (as of 1945)
,meal Survey Scientific Research Institute
ers, Ley N. KISLYAKQV
,Baxis Solnovich ZELTSR lb
Ce n t I gn Bureau of 13MS
Boris ilchailovich KOM)PLE'V
Valentin khailovic h K iT BATOV
Lt. Col. Mikhail. Fedorovich SOLETSKII
Lev Nik loevich KISLYAKOV
Boris Solomonovich ZELTSER
Anatoli Uladimirovich GORELICHE NKO
Vivid Yakav`levich SUR J I
*1cha i l kol aevich MALTSEV 2
These ,ei gij tiers -worked for six years designing an, automatic
r c real radio station for use in the -polar -regi? 6p .
`6 ' obi: on pressure, air temperature and the speed and direction
of wind is now received four times a day with the use of these
a ims o -they M ah k coast j in the Kara Kum desert and from
the islands of the Aral Sea. The stations were designed to operate
for twelve months without any control and to have a three htuidx~ed
a66- seeelity (370> mile radius of operation.
In the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Department of Geologo-
caphical Sciences studies hydrogeology, oceanology, volcanology
and aerthods. Institutes under this particular department are:
(() ological? Institute, whose function it is to explore the
northern part of the Pacific Ocean,
U A-97-46., 22 May 1946 (Unclassified)
.$, , 4 c~rnerce, -Bulletin 787, June 1946
ft". Moscow, September 1946
Nizhnaya Dorn a, .osco *
f. Agriculture and Weather Observatory
Southern coast of Crimea
thief, Prof e r DIKTEVICH
g. Scientific Research Institute No. 24 =
Laboratory Ghief, Boris 1ikhailovich KONOPU'V
ginear, Valentin Ukhailovich - KURBATOV 2/-
h. Arctic Institute
brigineer.' M khaitl Nikoloevich MALT
let? E A -ef '50ienoes, USSR, Volume X, 1946
`
Now rk Tunes, 30 or 31 March 1946
, ]cow
Uga *4 6.6, 9. September 1946
R, Information Bulletin, 41. VI,, No, 57, 31 August 1946
Moscow, 29 July 1947 (Secret)
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C R .t T $C' f oa dat i el) e i
(2)' Institu'e of - Geolog :oai Seieno'es
(a) Section fr `? d geology
Head, :Prof P. F. SAVARENSKI (as of 1915)
(b) Hydro-geb logical Laboratory
H?eaU; G. M. KAMENSKI (as of 1936)
(3) Institute of Geography
(A) Section for Climatology-
Head, E. E. F ROV (as of 1936)
o.. The following organizations and institutions belong to the Academy
of-Sciences of ,the USSR, but it has not been established as yet to
which department of the Academy the; balong.
(1) Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, Lioscow
Director, M. F`. 3UBBOTIN (as : oL a945)
Leningrad ,Dept. Director, I. D. ZHO1 OI.OVIOH (as of 1944)
(2) Central Astronomic Observatory, Pulkova, near Leningrad
Director, G. N. NEUM N (as of 1946)
(3) ? Crimean Astro-Physical Observatory
Acting-Director, S. A. SHA3N (as of 1946) 18
A model central observatory for hydrological observations will be
constructed ?at Valdayskaya Vozvyshennost.
Leningrad- Hydrometeoro ogcal Instit
Odeoisa Hydrorneteorologica1 Institute
s. Lioscow Univeity
t. Leningrad, Uni.ver.ity j?j
Institute of Experimental i:eteorology 20
v. Institute of Theoretical 'Geophysics a~j
6. 'Iith'refere ce to part f., of the Definition of itequireinent, th& Northern
Sea Route (Gls. evmorput; ? ') occupies a position equal to that,of the HUS i.e.
a main adrrinisrtret sft, in the? governmental structure of .the USSR:.
4ith1ri the- organization one of the ?assista to the Chief has charge of
scientific detaa is i . as, of jr 1943 A. E KAMINOV h(Md that position, 'Other
officials of the Admr rn are: Ideal, Admix;al Ivan Dmitrievich PAPININ, who was
first identified . as,Chief in May 1943. Deputies to the Ckf are Lt. Gen. Mark
I vich SHE'V L V, (as of 3epternber 1943), -i. V. STREKALQVSKI (as of April 5,, 1940),
Fedor Korrneivieh ZEFOVICH (-as of December 3, 1942) and Novikov (FNU) v ho ey?
may 28P 1943 Was head cf., the Political Section. The adninistrAtion `of `PdI1ar Aviation
Wider the NSR :s of April 4, 1941 was headed b,-,'- Col. I. P MAAZURUK, Ffdro of the
Soviet Union. 3/
Department of State, DRE, ,, Report (Secret)
`.Q ScieMCez USSR,' 1946,- Scientific Br .rich, CIA
CIA, J4.26' 194 (Restricted)
OIA;; `Dec`. 24`, 1947 ' (Restricted )
VA'-MOs$OW R430447
, September 30, 1947 (secret)
25X1A2g
. CRET
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7. No information relative to the coordination of facilities as applied to the
NSR was found but there eke evidences ' of increased exploration and development in
the Arctic, one of the ob;tives of which ws,s'the establishment in the northern
areas of "met" stations. T~ie fol:Lowing. is a general. s-u zar-y of. the activity since
19450
Oct. 1945-The "USSR N-331" flew over Arctic waters in an exploratory flight for
the preliminary study of the positions of -ice during the "post navigation
period",
Nov. 1945--A press dispatch from Sverdlovsk spoke of "polar expeditions in the
Far North".
{ R'OT
~. T ~ ..e ..ftC. 3.1 (eont Jul)
1946---".E`venjngg lioscow" reported that "one of the highest meteorological
stations in the Soviet Union!' had been established in the TIEN SHAN
mountains.
Feb. 1946-The Institute? of `i'heoret: cal Geophysics was studying the warm spells in
the Arctic.
1946-A new polar- station was .opeaed. on Bennett, Island. The Rudolf Island
Arctic Station in Franz Joseph Land, closed since 1942 resumed operations
iny' 19474 Through volunteers, a- meteorologist, a .radio operator and a
mechanic.. were dispatched frow: the Tranquility I3ay arctic Station.,
l94&=--It :wras announced that the, Soviets had placed into operation additional
automatic, weather stations..
1947*.TheZ ni ad ArcticInstitute undertook to study and verify the
existence of a second magnetic pole. It was planned to establish several
. otervation posts on: the ice fields the area where the second pole is
believed to exist. The theory is proposed by M. OSTREKIN, Soviet Arctic
explorer who . r,c ;ported his observations in 1941 confirmed the opinion
announced before the war by Soviet Arctic expert B. WEINBERG.
1947: -Reconnaisanc.e was made of the Chukotsk and East Siberian Seas by Pilot
. e tiara and Laptev Seas were reconnoitered by Pilot Tp.
1947orltz was 4n iounced. seventy-one polar stations were in operation in the Arctic.
Au interesting note in reference to polar st,_utions is the Tact, that- a ter
L nd. Lease., we shipped to Russia one and. `onxhalf (1.5) thousand tons of
wireless and communications equipment consisting of radio equipment for
polar- observation - station.
No inrlioatibn of how liaison with other services operate, but it is known
that, visits. by Americans to research and developLent institutes are never authorized
and Soviet engineers and scientific workers are not permitted to tali to cdyei nez ,,.
Art..a} of how the liaison with services other than Soviet operates is tie USSR
r ,nest,, for visas at the very last minute on September 18, 1947 for the delegates to
. ogical Conference in ashington after the invitation had-been issued-in
Department of State, DRE, , Report (Secret)
Sapten ber 30, 1947 (Secret,)
Department of State, In Telegram froj,.i Moscow, , No. 2883, September 19, 1947
S E C R T
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tt ;CRT NO.: RC 1 (cont 1d)
info tuation on Ghe ? administrative orgsr iz t on .0 the -Hydrometeoroiogieal
Ser'Vi.ce.-Irl Russia can be found in the files of the Library. The following documents
mentioned in bibliographigs andd intelligence reports, as noted, may contain data
per'taiJnin o the requirement;
A. F(>reign Dobuinents Branch, 00. CIA
I.' i.D.C. //239688n 453.02 ' (38) (In Japanese)
Conditiorf of Soviet Meteorology by Shirahama Heizo, N.D. 25pp.
L.D.C. #,239688d 450?02 (38) (in Japanese)
Soviet Geology and Meteorology
B.. From a .fist. of documents went by the National Academy of Sciences to.the
r.: o b ss Dec $, 1947- and present available thcare.
1., Transactions, Geological and Hydrological and Geodetical trust of
Central Asia; 1,:6scow, Novosibirsk, USSR.
2, Hydrology 'and Meteorology, Central Institute of periraents, U.S S.t.
3 Arctic Institute of the U.S.S.R., Transactions, Hydrology, 1936,
Leningrad, U.S.S.R.
G. Ihte errce Division Yti De ment
1. Inclosure to. - Moscow, 11-4-47, 7 Jan. 1947.
Inclosure not received CIA)
"Regulations for Hydrometeorologieal Stations and Posts, Issue 6t1~_
(lest-ricted)
.2, Inclosure to MAMoscow, R-53-47, 31 Jan. 1947, "Soviet Hydrometeo.rological
:Atipparatus". (Inclosure not received in CIA)
"Handbook on Radio Sounding of the Atmosphere for Aerological
'(Metecro1ogicai) S`tatidns of the Arctic-." (Restricted)
.
The following- infdrrrlation 'is offered for whatever value it may have to activities
workjg on the ,doeumentaryi research:
Tzvestiyr AAademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Geograficheskaya i Geofizicheskaya
"News of the Acad erny of Sciences of the USR, Geography and Geophysics Seri
The above 'periodical may contain information on 'the i yd ometeorologica1
Service in Russia.
'.s, 1 ourn that Vol. IX, No, .4, (April 1945) contains erticles on
Meteorological Research which may be of.sorie help in suggesting additional
sources"to be checked. The publication is in the Library of Congress.
2. Vestnik idcademii Nauk SSSR (Herald of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR),
Vol. XVI, No. 8/9, Aug./Sept. 1946.
Contains a two page article, VIn the. Presidium of the AeadeW of Sciences",
listing changes in structure of institutions of Academy of Science - - new
corLissions set up and existing institutions abolished or incorporated in
other organizations. Also in the Library of Congress,
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USSR:
S L, C A L T ?t K)F I
1 U.: RC 1 (cont'dl-.
The folI owin4 individuals are known to have done meteorological research in
`T L; y, 155671
~t . 1Li, Obu7maho I. G. Luterstein
V. V. Burgsdorf M. N. Grisehenko
A. F. Chudncrsky-
4. LIFE Magazine had pictures of the follo-9in" persons who may be identified
w th subjedt request:
Alexander;Fersmaan. Pioneer in, geochemistry. Helped prospect Soviet
resources and direct a subanctie research center,,..(LIFE.V. 17.
23 " October 44, p. 15) QSS P12870
Otto Schmidt, Headed Arctic Institute. Directed pioneering of Soviet
Arctic Regions, (LIFE' V. 17. 23 October 44, p? 16)
Extract from INTJ IGENC. DIGEST, A Review of World Affairs,
Produced by Kenneth de Courcy, December 1947 issue, page 7.
Latest Russian Notes * #
"There is further important news about Russian military preparations. The
things theoretically planned do not necessarily indicate the direction in which
,tss would,strike :in the event of war Many of the things being done are for
precaution and reinsurance. They must, nevertheless, all,be reported.
"From Petsamo to the Bering Straits there are large preparations. There is
a chain of radar stations and largo anti--aircraft defuses of a, kind . far mur-
passing anything seen during the last war. , nyT of these installations have
been built by Germans working for Russia.
"There are frequent large scale Arctic maneuvers. The Soviets are far in
advance of others in matters of Arctic warfare.
They att eh great importance to their i.:eteorological instpllations in the
Arctic region, and there are about 58,000 people employed on this work alone..
They take it most seriously. They believe themselves to be so advanced that
they can forecast weather twenty-four hours before any other observers in the
world."
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