State Meteorological Agency
Agencia Estatal de Meteorología | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | August 18, 1887 |
Preceding agencies |
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Headquarters | Madrid, Spain |
Employees | 1,167 (2020) |
Annual budget | € 133.8 million, 2023[1] |
Agency executive |
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Parent agency | Ministry of Environment |
Website | www |
The State Meteorological Agency (
The AEMET performs forecasting based on weather and climate modelling from data collected from its network of monitoring centers. The agency has centers distributed through the
It represents Spain in international meteorological institutions, such as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
History
It was founded in 1887 as the "Instituto Central Meteorológico" by Royal Decree of August 12
With different denominations this agency has been playing the role of "National Meteorological Service" since its creation. During the Second Republic, in 1933, it became dependent on the Directorate-General for Aeronautics of the Ministry of War. After the Civil War, in 1940, all the meteorological services were unified in the renowned "National Meteorological Service", which was attached to the Ministry of Air. In 1962 a new building was inaugurated in the University City of Madrid that in the 70s assumed the central services.[4]
In the democratic period, a new restructuring took place in 1978, when it was renamed the National Institute of Meteorology (INM) and became dependent on the Ministry of Transport and Communications.[5] The second and last restructuring of the agency happened in 2008, when the National Meteorological Institute was renamed State Meteorological Agency and it assumed all the goods and responsibilities of its predecessors.[2]
Activities and resources
AEMET's main task is "to develop, implement and provide meteorological services falling within the competences of the State, as well as to give support to other public and private activities which improve the safety and quality of life of the Spanish society".
Its activities include, among others, taking meteorological observations in Spain and archiving them, weather monitoring and forecasting, and doing scientific research in numerical weather prediction models.
To accomplish these tasks AEMET has at its disposal high computing power and a vast observation network, including manned and automatic weather stations, radiosondes, weather radar and lightning detectors.[6]
References
- ^ "State Budget 2023" (PDF).
- ^ a b "2008 Statute of the State Meteorological Agency". www.boe.es. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ a b "Royal Decree creating the Central Meteorological Institute. 1887" (PDF).
- ^ "Breve historia de la AEMET" (PDF). www.boe.es. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ Albert Carreras, Xavier Tafunell (2005). Estadísticas históricas de España: siglos XIX-XX. p. 43.
- ^ AEMET resources Archived April 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine