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Met Office

Coordinates:50°43′38″N3°28′30″W/ 50.72722°N 3.47500°W/50.72722; -3.47500
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the weather service in the United Kingdom. For the one in Pakistan, seePakistan Meteorological Department.
"UKMET" redirects here. For the weather prediction system, seeUnified Model.

Met Office
Logo of the Met Office since 1987
Agency overview
Formed1 August 1854;169 years ago(1 August 1854)
JurisdictionUnited Kingdom
HeadquartersMet Office Operations Centre,Exeter,Devon (since December 2003)
MottoPer scientiam tempestates praedicere
Employees2,223 (March 2022)[1]
Minister responsible
Deputy Minister responsible
  • Andrew GriffithMP, Minister of State (Minister for Science, Research and Innovation)
Agency executives
Parent agencyDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technology
Websitewww.metoffice.gov.uk

TheMeteorological Office,abbreviated as theMet Office,[2]is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is anexecutive agencyandtrading fundof theDepartment for Science, Innovation and Technologyand is led by CEO[3]Penelope Endersby,who took on the role as Chief Executive in December 2018 and is the first woman to do so.[4]The Met Office makes meteorological predictions across all timescales from weather forecasts toclimate change.

History

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Vice AdmiralRobert FitzRoy,founder of the Met Office

The Met Office was established on 1 August 1854[5]as a small department within theBoard of TradeunderVice AdmiralRobert FitzRoyas a service tomariners.The loss of the passenger vessel, theRoyal Charter,and 459 lives off the coast ofAngleseyin a violent storm in October 1859 led to the first gale warning service. FitzRoy established a network of 15 coastal stations from which visual gale warnings could be provided for ships at sea.

The newelectric telegraphenabled rapid dissemination of warnings and also led to the development of an observational network which could then be used to provide synoptic analysis. The Met Office started in 1861 to provide weather forecasts to newspapers. FitzRoy requested the daily traces of the photo-barographatKew Observatory(invented byFrancis Ronalds) to assist in this task and similar barographs and as well as instruments to continuously record other meteorological parameters were later provided to stations across the observing network.[6][7]Publication of forecasts ceased in May 1866 after FitzRoy's death but recommenced in April 1879.

Connection with the Ministry of Defence

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Former Met Office building inBracknell,Berkshire,before relocation toExeter,since demolished

Following theFirst World War,the Met Office became part of theAir Ministryin 1919, the weather observed from the top ofAdastral House(where the Air Ministry was based) giving rise to the phrase "The weather on the Air Ministry roof". As a result of the need for weather information for aviation, the Met Office located many of its observation and data collection points onRAF airfields,and this accounts for the large number of military airfields mentioned in weather reports even today. In 1936 the Met Office split with services to theRoyal Navybeing provided by its own forecasting services.

It became anexecutive agencyof theMinistry of Defencein April 1990, a quasi-governmental role, being required to act commercially.

Changes of ministry

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Following amachinery of governmentchange, the Met Office became part of theDepartment for Business, Innovation and Skillson 18 July 2011,[8]and subsequently part of theDepartment for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategyfollowing the merger of BIS and theDepartment of Energy and Climate Changeon 14 July 2016.[9]

Although no longer part of the MOD, the Met Office maintains strong links with the military through its front line offices at RAF and Army bases both in the UK and overseas and its involvement in the Joint Operations Meteorology and Oceanography Centre (JOMOC) with the Royal Navy. TheMobile Met Unit(MMU) are a unit consisting of Met Office staff who are alsoRAF reservistswho accompany forward units in times of conflict advising the armed forces of the conditions for battle, particularly the RAF.

Locations

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The 2003 headquarters building on the edge of Exeter

In September 2003 the Met Office moved its headquarters fromBracknellin Berkshire to a purpose-built £80m structure atExeterBusiness Park, near junction 29 of theM5 motorway.The new building was officially opened on 21 June 2004 – a few weeks short of the Met Office's 150th anniversary – byRobert May, Baron May of Oxford.

It has a worldwide presence – including a forecasting centre inAberdeen,and offices inGibraltarand on theFalklands.Other outposts lodge in establishments such as the MetOffice@Reading (formerly the Joint Centre for Mesoscale Meteorology) atUniversity of Readingin Berkshire, the Joint Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Research (JCHMR) site atWallingfordin Oxfordshire, and there is a Met Office presence at Army and Air Force bases within the UK and abroad (including frontline units in conflict zones).[10]Royal Navyweather forecasts are generally provided by naval officers, not Met Office personnel.

Forecasts

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Shipping forecast

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Main article:Shipping Forecast

TheShipping Forecastis produced by the Met Office and broadcast onBBC Radio 4,for those traversing the seas around theBritish Isles.

Weather forecasting and warnings

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The Met Office issues Severe Weather Warnings for the United Kingdom through theNational Severe Weather Warning Service(NSWWS). These warn of weather events that may affect transport infrastructure and endanger people's lives. In March 2008, the system was improved and a new stage of warning was introduced, the 'Advisory'.[11]

The Met Office along with Irish counterpartMet Éireannintroduced astorm naming systemin September 2015 to provide a single authoritative naming system for the storms that affect the UK and Ireland.[12][13]The first named storm under this system,Abigailwas announced on 10 November 2015.[14]In 2019, the Met Office and Met Éireann were joined byDutchnational weather forecasting service theRoyal Netherlands Meteorological Institute(KNMI), There Are Now Recommendations To Name Heatwaves This Summer As Part Of A Trial.[15]

Weather prediction models

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The main role of the Met Office is to produce forecast models by gathering information fromweather satellitesin space and observations on earth, then processing it with a variety of models, based on a software package known as theunified model.The principal weather products for UK customers are 36-hour forecasts from the operational 1.5 km resolutionUKV modelcovering the UK and surroundings[16](replacing the 4 km model), 48-hour forecasts from the 12 km resolution NAE model covering Europe and the North Atlantic, and 144-hour forecasts from the 25 km resolution global model (replacing the 40 km global model).[17]The Met Office's Global Model forecast has consistently been in the top 3 for global weather forecast performance (in the decades up to 2010) in independent verification to WMO standards.[18][failed verification]Products for other regions of the globe are sold to customers abroad, provided forMODoperations abroad or provided free to developing countries in Africa. If necessary, forecasters may make adjustments to the computer forecasts. Data is stored in the Met Office's ownPP-format.

Flood Forecasting Centre

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Main article:Flood Forecasting Centre

Formed in 2009, theFlood Forecasting Centre(FFC) is a joint venture between theEnvironment Agencyand the Met Office to provide flood risk guidance for England and Wales. The Centre is jointly staffed from both parent organisations and is based in the Operations Centre at the Met Office headquarters in Exeter.[19]In Scotland this role is performed by the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service, a joint venture between theScottish Environment Protection Agency(SEPA) and the Met Office.[20]

Seasonal forecasts

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The Met Office makes seasonal and long range forecasts and distributes them to customers and users globally.[21]The Met Office was the first climate and weather forecast provider to be recognised as a Global Producing Centre of long range forecasts by theWorld Meteorological Organisationand continues to provide forecasts to the WMO for dissemination to other national meteorological services worldwide.[22]

Met Office research has broken new ground in seasonal forecasting for theextratropicsand has demonstrated its abilities in its seasonal predictions of theNorth Atlantic Oscillationand winter climate for Europe and North America.[23][24]

Supply of forecasts for broadcasting companies

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One of the main media companies,ITVproduce forecasts forITV Weatherusing the Met Office's data and animated weather symbols.

The BBC used to use Met Office forecasts for all of its output, but on 23 August 2015, it was announced that the BBC would be replacing the Met Office withMeteoGroup,a competing provider, as part of the corporation's legal obligation to provide best value for money for thelicence feepayers.[25]The BBC still uses some Met Office data for certain forecasts, particularly severe weather warnings and the Shipping Forecast.

World Area Forecast Centre

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Main article:World Area Forecast Centre

The Met Office is one of only two World Area Forecast Centres or WAFCs, and is referred to as WAFC London. The other WAFC is located inKansas City, Missouri,and known as WAFC Washington. WAFC data is used daily to safely and economically route aircraft, particularly on long-haul journeys. The data provides details of wind speed and direction, air temperature, cloud type and tops, and other features.

Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre

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Main article:Volcanic Ash Advisory Center

As part of its aviation forecast operation the Met Office operates the LondonVolcanic Ash Advisory Centre(VAAC).[26]This provides forecasts to the aviation industry ofvolcanic ashclouds that could enter aircraft flight paths and impact aviation safety. The London VAAC, one of nine worldwide, is responsible for the area covering theBritish Isles,the north east Atlantic andIceland.The VAAC were set up by theInternational Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO), an agency of the United Nations, as part of the International Airways Volcano Watch (IAVW).[27]The London VAAC makes use of satellite images, plus seismic, radar and visual observation data fromIceland,[28]the location of all of the active volcanoes in its area of responsibility. TheNAME dispersion modeldeveloped by the Met Office is used to forecast the movement of the ash clouds 6, 12 and 18 hours from the time of the alert at different flight levels.

Air quality

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Main article:UK Dispersion Modelling Bureau

The Met Office issuesair qualityforecasts made usingNAME,the Met Office's medium-to-long-rangeatmospheric dispersion model.It was developed as a nuclear accident model following theChernobyl accidentin 1986, but has since evolved into an all-purpose dispersion model capable of predicting the transport, transformation and deposition of a wide class of airborne materials. NAME is used operationally by the Met Office as an emergency response model as well as for routine air quality forecasting. Aerosol dispersion is calculated using theUnited Kingdom Chemistry and Aerosols model.

The forecast is produced for pollutants and their typical health effects are shown in the following table.

Pollutant Health Effects at High Level
Nitrogen dioxide
Ozone
Sulphur dioxide		 These gases irritate the airways of the lungs, increasing the symptoms
of those suffering from lung diseases.
Particulates
 Fine particles can be carried deep into the lungs where they can cause
inflammation and a worsening of heart and lung diseases

Decadal Predictions

The Met Office coordinates the production and collation of decadal climate prediction from climate centres around the world as part of its responsibilities as World Meteorological OrganisationLead Centre for Annual to Decadal Climate Prediction.These predictions are updated each year and a summary, the Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update is published each year.

IPCC

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Main article:Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Until 2001 the Met Office hosted theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Changeworking group, chaired byJohn Houghton,on climate science. In 2001 the working group moved to theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.[29]

High performance computing

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Due to the large amount of computation needed forNumerical Weather Predictionand theUnified model,the Met Office has had some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. In November 1997 the Met Office supercomputer was ranked third in the world.[30]

Year Computer Calculations per second Horizontal resolution (global/local) Number of vertical levels
1959 Ferranti Mercury 3kiloflops (N.A./320 km) 2 levels
1965 English Electric KDF9 50 kiloflops (N.A./300 km) 3 levels
1972 IBM System/360195 4megaflops (300 km/100 km) 10 levels
1982 CDC Cyber205 200 megaflops (150 km/75 km) 15 levels
1991 Cray Y-MP C90/16 10gigaflops (90 km/17 km) 19 levels
1997 Cray T3E900/1200 430 gigaflops (60 km/12 km) 38 levels
2004 NEC SX-6 2.0teraflops (40 km/12 km) 50 levels
2006 NEC SX-8and SX-6 5.4 teraflops (40 km/4 km) 50 levels
2009 IBM Power6 140 teraflops (17 km/1.5 km) 70 levels
2015 Cray XC40 16petaflops (10 km/1.5 km)

Customer service

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Since 2012 the Met Office Contact Centre (known as the Weather Desk) has been part ofContact Centre Panel's'Top 50 Companies for Customer Service' programme.[31]

In 2015 the Met Office won awards in the following categories:[32]

  • Rated 1st Overall for Combined Channels
  • Most Improved Overall for Social Media
  • Rated 2nd Overall for Call Service
  • Rated 1st Overall for Email Service
  • Best in Public Sector
  • Best Extra Small Centre

Weather stations

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Reports (observations) fromweather stationscan beautomatic(totally machine produced), semi-automatic (part-machine and part manual), or manual. Some stations produce manual observations during business hours and revert to automatic observations outside these times. Many stations feature "present weather" sensors,CCTV,etc. There is also a network of 'upper air' stations, usingradiosondes.The six main radiosonde stations in the UK are Camborne, Lerwick, Albemarle, Watnall, Castor Bay and Herstmonceux.

Some stations have limited reporting times, while other report continuously, mainlyRAFandArmy Air Corpsstations where a staffed met office is provided for military operations. The "standard" is a once-hourly reporting schedule, but automatic stations can often be "polled" as required, whilst stations at airfields report twice-hourly, with additional (often frequent in times of bad weather) special reports as necessary to inform airfield authorities of changes to the weather that may affect aviation operations.

Some stations report onlyCLIMATdata (e.g. maximum and minimum temperatures, rainfall totals over a period, etc.) and these are usually recorded at 0900 and 2100 hours daily. Weather reports are often performed by observers not specifically employed by the Met Office, such asAir traffic controlstaff, coastguards, university staff and so on.

Meteorological Research Unit and the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM)

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Main article:RAF Cardington

Meteorological Research was carried out atRAE Bedfordwith instruments being carried by barrage balloons until the RAE facility closed in the 1980s.

The Met Office association withCardingtoncontinues by maintaining a Meteorological Research Unit (MRU). This is responsible for conducting research into part of the atmosphere called theboundary layerby using a tethered balloon which is kept in a small portable hangar.[34][35]

FAAM

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Main article:Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements
FAAM BAe146-300 takes off atRIAT,RAF Fairford,England

The Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM), part of theNational Centre for Atmospheric Science,is based atCranfield Airport.It is a collaboration with theNatural Environment Research Council.[34]

The FAAM was established as part of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS),[36]itself part of NERC, to provide aircraft measurement for use by UK atmospheric research organisations on worldwide campaigns. The main equipment is a modifiedBAe 146 type 301aircraft, registration G-LUXE, owned and operated byBAE Systemson behalf of Directflight Limited.[37]

Areas of application include:[38]

Directors General and Chief Executives

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See also

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References

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  1. ^"Met Office annual report and accounts 2021 to 2022".gov.uk.
  2. ^"Meteorological Office Archive".Retrieved5 December2013.In November 2000 the organisation underwent a corporate rebrand and officially changed its name to simply the "Met Office".
  3. ^ab"Met Office Chief Executive stands down".Gov.uk.Retrieved5 March2018.
  4. ^ab"Professor Penelope Endersby to be new Met Office Chief Executive".Met Office.Archived fromthe originalon 18 October 2018.Retrieved18 October2018.
  5. ^"Foundations of the Met Office".Retrieved1 November2022.
  6. ^Ronalds, B.F. (2016).Sir Francis Ronalds: Father of the Electric Telegraph.London: Imperial College Press.ISBN978-1-78326-917-4.
  7. ^Ronalds, B.F. (June 2016). "Sir Francis Ronalds and the Early Years of the Kew Observatory".Weather.71(6): 131–134.Bibcode:2016Wthr...71..131R.doi:10.1002/wea.2739.S2CID123788388.
  8. ^"UK Met Office switches departments in Whitehall shake-up".Clickgreen.org.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 22 July 2011.Retrieved18 July2011.
  9. ^"Machinery of Government Changes:Written statement - HCWS94".Hansard.18 July 2016.Retrieved22 July2016.
  10. ^"Met Office defence: Supporting operations".Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. 13 May 2014. Archived fromthe originalon 5 July 2007.Retrieved30 June2014.
  11. ^"Met Office warning colours".Metoffice.gov.uk. 19 November 2008.Retrieved15 May2010.
  12. ^Ahlstrom, Dick (15 January 2015)."Storm-naming system yet to be put in place as Rachel peters out".Irish Times.Retrieved17 January2015.
  13. ^"Met Éireann plans to start naming storms from next year".The Journal. 21 December 2014.Retrieved17 January2015.
  14. ^"10 November 2015 - The Met Office has named Abigail as the first storm as part of the Name Our Storms project".Met Office.
  15. ^"Storm names for 2019-20 announced".Met Office.Retrieved13 January2020.
  16. ^"Experiences with a 1.5 km version of the Met Office Unified Model for short range forecasting".ametsoc.org. 25 January 2011.Retrieved23 February2011.
  17. ^"Met Office Atmospheric numerical model configurations".Metoffice.gov.uk. 5 May 2010.Retrieved15 May2010.
  18. ^"Verification statistics and evaluations of ECMWF forecasts in 2009–2010 – Figures 11–15".European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts ecmwf.int. October 2010.Retrieved10 February2011.
  19. ^"Flood Forecasting Centre moves to Exeter".Exeter Science.Retrieved4 June2011.
  20. ^"Scottish Flood Forecasting Service".Sepa.org.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 26 March 2015.Retrieved4 June2011.
  21. ^"Long-range global and regional forecasts".Met Office.Retrieved21 July2017.
  22. ^"World Meteorological Organisation GPC outlooks".
  23. ^Scaife, A. A.; Arribas, A.; Blockley, E.; Brookshaw, A.; Clark, R. T.; Dunstone, N.; Eade, R.; Fereday, D.; Folland, C. K.; Gordon, M.; Hermanson, L.; Knight, J. R.; Lea, D. J.; MacLachlan, C.; Maidens, A.; Martin, M.; Peterson, A. K.; Smith, D.; Vellinga, M.; Wallace, E.; Waters, J.; Williams, A. (2014)."Seasonal Predictions of the North Atlantic Oscillation"(PDF).Geophysical Research Letters.41(7): 2514–2519.Bibcode:2014GeoRL..41.2514S.doi:10.1002/2014GL059637.hdl:10871/34601.S2CID127165980.
  24. ^Knapton, Sarah (17 October 2016)."The Met Office can now predict winter weather one year in advance".The Telegraph.Archivedfrom the original on 12 January 2022.
  25. ^"Met Office loses BBC weather contract".23 August 2015.Retrieved7 June2019.
  26. ^"London VAAC".Metoffice.gov.uk. 19 November 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 8 January 2007.Retrieved15 May2010.
  27. ^"International Airways Volcano Watch".Icao.int. 26 March 2010.Retrieved15 May2010.
  28. ^Overview of VAAC Activities presentation[dead link]
  29. ^Pearce, Fred,The Climate Files: The Battle for the Truth about Global Warming,(2010)Guardian Books,ISBN978-0-85265-229-9,p. XVI.
  30. ^Mark Twain, Kevin McCurley."United Kingdom Meteorological Office | TOP500 Supercomputing Sites".Top500.org.
  31. ^"Met Office wins top Customer Service Awards | Met Office".wired-gov.net.Retrieved16 November2021.
  32. ^"Met Office Scoops Top Customer Service Awards".iGov News.Retrieved27 September2016.
  33. ^"Prestatyn Weather website".Prestatynweather.co.uk.Retrieved15 May2010.
  34. ^ab"MET Office Research facilities (website accessed: 12/08/10)".Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 24 February 2009.Retrieved30 June2014.
  35. ^"Met Office – Boundary layer (accessed: 12/08/10)".Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Archived fromthe originalon 18 June 2010.Retrieved30 June2014.
  36. ^National Centre for Atmospheric ScienceArchived15 February 2012 at theWayback Machine
  37. ^"Directflight Limited official website".Directflight.co.uk. 1 April 2014. Archived fromthe originalon 4 March 2000.Retrieved30 June2014.
  38. ^FAAM web reports pageArchived9 October 2006 at theWayback Machine
  39. ^Henderson, Caspar(15 May 2006)."Reason and Light".New Statesman.Archived fromthe originalon 9 December 2006.Retrieved22 April2008.

50°43′38″N3°28′30″W/ 50.72722°N 3.47500°W/50.72722; -3.47500

Further reading

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