18 August, Kathmandu: A Russian aircraft that arrived here a one month before to conduct a study about Nepal’s high-altitude weather and climate conditions returned some days ago after completing the two-week long study.

A team comprising around 250 members including climate and weather experts from the US, UK, Italy, Switzerland and Germany, technical human resources and crew members arrived here on the aircraft sent by the Russian Federation.

The study project commissioned by the European Union was carried out with cooperation from the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and in collaboration with the Nepal-based German Embassy.

The EU invested around Rs 1.45 billion (12 million Euro) for the project.

Experts hope that this type of survey would be useful for Nepal’s aviation and agriculture sectors.

According to NAST vice chancellor Prof Dr Jeevraj Pokhrel, the study findings would give a picture of the nature and current status of Nepal’s high-altitude climate zones and help determine the measures to manage untoward natural disasters in the future.

Russia had sent the aircraft to examine high-altitude climate zones as per the Memorandum of Understanding reached with the NAST. RSS