The Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies ( es, Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales), also known by its acronym in Spanish, IDEAM, is a

government agency A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...

of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia. It is in charge of producing and managing the scientific and technical information on the environment of Colombia, and its territorial composition. The IDEAM also serves as the Colombian institute of meteorology and studies the climate of Colombia. The agency is currently led by the Director General, forestry engineer Yolanda González Hernandez. González Hernández is a specialist in

Geographic Information Systems A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a br ...

with a Masters in Meteorology Sciences from the National University of Colombia, and is the first woman to lead the agency.

Creation

It was created on December 22, 1993, when

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

passed ''Law 99 of 1993'', replacing the Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology, and Land Management (''Instituto Colombiano de Hidrología, Meteorología y Adecuación de Tierras'' - HIMAT), and it officially started functioning on March 1, 1995.

Role

The IDEAM is in charge of gathering and handling specialized information about the different ecosystems found in Colombia; it also establishes technical parameters to promote an adequate use of land use and planning The institute is charged with obtaining, analyzing, processing and divulging information pertaining to

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...

hydrogeology Hydrogeology (''hydro-'' meaning water, and ''-geology'' meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aquif ...

, meteorology, and

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

biophysical Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. Bi ...

geomorphological Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

aspects, and the vegetation and land area to improve the use and care of the biophysical resources or the country. The IDEAM also manages the operation and location of the

meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

and hydrological bases within the country, in order to collect information,

forecasts Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared (resolved) against what happens. For example, a company might estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual ...

, alerts and advice on the behavior of the climate to the population. It is in charge of monitoring the country's biophysical resources on issues related to their contamination and degradation, crucial for decisions made by environmental authorities. It also functions as the entity that fulfills the task of the Institute of Meteorology for the study of climate.

References

Environmental studies institutions in Colombia Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (Colombia) Government agencies of Colombia Governmental meteorological agencies in South America Environment of Colombia 1993 establishments in Colombia Government agencies established in 1993 Scientific organizations established in 1993 Earth sciences organizations Research institutes in Colombia {{environment-org-stub