New technology scheduled to be introduced next year could help the Bermuda Weather Service get early information on weather systems such as hurricanes.

Governor Sir John Vereker announced during the Throne Speech that a Doppler Weather Radar System is scheduled to be installed as well as a new Airport Information Landing System. ?Ideally, we?d like to have the new Doppler system in before the start of the next hurricane season,? said the Bermuda Weather Service Director Roger Williams.

He said the system, a powerful ten centimetre radar compared to the current three centimetre one, is capable of penetrating the eye of a hurricane that may be 300 miles away.

The weather service has a $2 million budget for the initiative to install the new Doppler that gathers information by bouncing radio waves off of objects with the use of a high-powered antenna.

?The Doppler indicates the comparative velocity of rain drops and other precipitation in the atmosphere. This enables the meteorologist to detect potentially hazardous features such as squall lines and downbursts. A downburst is a local zone of very strong winds descending from a thunderstorm, which could be very dangerous if it arrived just as an aircraft was landing or taking off,? Mr. Williams said.

Bermuda International Airport will also receive new technology with the instalment of the Airport Information Landing System to replace the existing system.

Airport General Manager James Howes said the old landing system dates back to the days when the US Navy was still on the Island and he said some components for the system are no longer made.

?The preliminary studies are now being undertaken but once we order the system it shouldn?t take too long to be installed and we hope to have it in place by summer 2004,? Mr. Howes said.

The new landing system will cost $500,000 and Mr. Howes said the electronic beam transmits two beams that will assist planes in bad weather.