Royal Meteorological Institute
Established | 31 July 1913 |
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Staff | 200 (2012) |
Location | Ringlaan/Avenue Circulaire 3, 1180 Ukkel/Uccle |
Website | www.meteo.be |
The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (French: Institut Royal Météorologique de Belgique or IRM; Dutch: Koninklijk Meteorologisch Instituut van België or KMI) is a Belgian federal institute engaged in scientific research in the field of meteorology. The RMI depends on the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO). The institute is a member of the World Meteorological Organization, of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, of EUMETSAT, and of the EIG Eumetnet.
History
In 1823, Adolphe Quetelet obtains from the Minister of Public Education the creation of an astronomical Observatory in Brussels. Meanwhile, are the first meteorological observations done with rudimentary instruments. In 1876,
Technological evolution
In the 1990s and under the directorate of Henri Malcorps, the RMI started using several new technologies such as the installation in 1992 of a lightning detection system by radio interferometry (SAFIR). It is able to localize every impact of lightning throughout Belgium in real time, with an accuracy of about 1 km. Another example is, in 1993, when the RMI launched a meteorological database easily accessible with a computer: MeteoBBS. This system allows the display of satellite photos, meteorological radar pictures, the SAFIR maps, as well as all observations, weather forecasts and meteorological warnings. The scientific technology is quickly evolving and, in 1995, the
Today
The RMI is located in Uccle, in a site shared with the Royal Observatory of Belgium and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy. Among other remarkable places on site, the climatological park of the RMI is the reference in Belgium for climatology. Under the authority of BELSPO, the RMI makes its priority in providing meteorological warnings to the Belgian population, along with the European organization Meteoalarm.[1] The Institute gives daily weather forecasts to the public and to a few specific sectors including agriculture, transport, media and energy. Moreover, the RMI publishes a monthly climatological report, containing for every day of the previous month data on wind speed, average/minimum/maximum temperature, precipitation, insolation. It is entirely free and accessible through the RMI website.[2] The current face of RMI reflects the importance given to scientific meteorological research, in the fields of forecasting, issues concerning atmosphere and climate, the hydrological cycle, observations' systems, magnetism and the ionosphere.
Tools and collaboration
The Institute tops a network of meteorological stations all over Belgium, of radars, of a lightning detection system, of measures on satellites... The RMI takes also part into the elaboration of numerous projects, like the Solar Impulse, this extremely light and ambitious plane that functions on solar energy. The Royal Meteorological Institute works together with IRCELINE, and the Federal Public Service Health to warn the population in case of ozone peaks and heat waves.