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Steven van Weyenberg
Steven Peter Robert Albert van Weyenberg (; born 21 March 1973) is a Belgian-born Dutch politician, who served as State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management in the ( demissionary) third Rutte cabinet from 10 August 2021 till 10 J ...
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Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
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The Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut, ; KNMI) is the
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
national
weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th cen ...
service, which has its headquarters in
De Bilt, in the
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...
of
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...
, central
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
The primary tasks of KNMI are weather forecasting, monitoring of climate changes and monitoring seismic activity. KNMI is also the national research and information centre for
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
,
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
and
seismology
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
.
History
KNMI was established by royal decree of
King William III on 21 January 1854 under the title "Royal Meteorological Observatory". Professor
C. H. D. Buys Ballot was appointed as the first Director.
The year before Professor Ballot had moved the Utrecht University Observatory to the decommissioned fort at Sonnenborgh. It was only later, in 1897, that the headquarters of the KNMI moved to the Koelenberg estate in
De Bilt.
The "Royal Meteorological Observatory" originally had two divisions, the land branch under Dr. Frederik Wilhelm Christiaan Krecke and the marine branch under navy Lt.
Marin H. Jansen.
Like
Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy and a scientist. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra de ...
who founded the
Meteorological Office
The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope ...
in Britain the same year, Ballot was disenchanted with the non-scientific weather reports found in European newspapers at the time. Like the Met Office, the KNMI also pioneered daily weather predictions, which he called by a new combination "weervoorspelling" (weather prognostication).
Research at KNMI
Applied research at KNMI is focused on three areas:
* Research aimed at improving the quality, usefulness and accessibility of
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
oceanographical data in support of operational weather forecasting and other applications of such data.
* Climate-related research on oceanography;
atmospheric boundary layer
In meteorology, the planetary boundary layer (PBL), also known as the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) or peplosphere, is the lowest part of the atmosphere and its behaviour is directly influenced by its contact with a planetary surface. On Ear ...
processes, clouds and radiation; the chemical composition of the
atmosphere
An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A ...
(e.g. ozone); climate variability research; the analysis of climate, climate variability and climatic change; modelling support and policy support to the Dutch Government with respect to climate and climatic change.
* Seismological research as well as monitoring of seismic activity (
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
s).
KNMI's development of atmospheric dispersion models
KNMI's applied research also encompasses the development and operational use of
atmospheric dispersion models.
Whenever a disaster occurs within
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
which causes the emission of
toxic
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a sub ...
gases or
radioactive material
A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferr ...
into the atmosphere, it is of utmost importance to quickly determine where the atmospheric plume of toxic material is being transported by the prevailing winds and other meteorological factors. At such times, KNMI activates a special calamity service. For this purpose, a group of seven meteorologists is constantly on call day or night. KNMI's role in supplying information during emergencies is included in municipal and provincial disaster management plans. Civil services, fire departments and the police can be provided with weather and other relevant information directly by the meteorologist on duty, through dedicated telephone connections.
KNMI has available two atmospheric dispersion models for use by their calamity service:
*
PUFF
Puff may refer to:
Science and technology
* Puff, a small quantity of gas or smoke in the air
** Puff, a light gust of wind
** Exhalation
** Inhalation
* Puff model, volcanic ash tracking model developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
* PUF ...
- In cooperation with the
(Dutch: ''Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieuhygiene'' or simply ''RIVM''), KNMI has developed the dispersion model PUFF. It has been designed to calculate the dispersion of
air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...
on European scales. The model was originally tested by using measurements of the dispersion of radioactivity caused by the accident in the nuclear power plant of
Chernobyl
Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about n ...
in 1986. A few years later, in 1994, a dedicated dispersion experiment called ETEX (European Tracer EXperiment) was carried out, which also provided useful data for further testing of PUFF.
* CALM - CALM is a CALamity Model designed for the calculation of air pollution dispersion on small spatial scales, within the Netherlands. The
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...
s and
parameter
A parameter (), generally, is any characteristic that can help in defining or classifying a particular system (meaning an event, project, object, situation, etc.). That is, a parameter is an element of a system that is useful, or critical, when ...
s contained in the CALM model are practically identical to that of the PUFF model. However, the meteorological input can only be supplied manually in CALM. The user provides both observed and predicted values for wind velocity at the 10 meter height level, the
atmospheric stability classification and the mixing height. After the model calculations have been performed, a map is created and displayed with the derived trajectories of the pollution plume and an indication of how and where the cloud will disperse.
Storm naming
In 2019 KNMI decided to join the
western storm naming group to help awareness of the danger of storms, the first named storm was
Storm Ciara on 9 February 2020.
See also
*
Atmospheric dispersion modeling
Atmospheric dispersion modeling is the mathematical simulation of how air pollutants disperse in the ambient atmosphere. It is performed with computer programs that include algorithms to solve the mathematical equations that govern the pollutant ...
*
List of atmospheric dispersion models
Atmospheric dispersion models are computer programs that use mathematical algorithms to simulate how pollutants in the ambient atmosphere disperse and, in some cases, how they react in the atmosphere.
US Environmental Protection Agency models
Man ...
*
National Center for Atmospheric Research
*
NERI, the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark
*
NILU, the Norwegian Institute for Air Research
*
Roadway air dispersion modeling
Roadway air dispersion modeling is the study of air pollutant transport from a roadway or other linear emitter. Computer models are required to conduct this analysis, because of the complex variables involved, including vehicle emissions, vehicl ...
*
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute
The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute ( sv, Sveriges meteorologiska och hydrologiska institut, abbreviated SMHI) is a Government agency in Sweden and operates under the Ministry of the Environment. SMHI has expertise within the a ...
*
TA Luft
Germany has an air pollution control regulation titled "Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control" (''Technische Anleitung zur Reinhaltung der Luft'') and commonly referred to as the ''TA Luft''.
The first version of the ''TA Luft'' was establ ...
*
UK Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Liaison Committee
*
UK Dispersion Modelling Bureau
*
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) is a US nonprofit consortium of more than 100 colleges and universities providing research and training in the atmospheric and related sciences. UCAR manages the National Center for Atmosph ...
References
External links
KNMI website (in Dutch)KNMI atmospheric dispersion modelsRIVM website (in English)
{{authority control
Atmospheric dispersion modeling
De Bilt
Governmental meteorological agencies in Europe
Independent government agencies of the Netherlands
Organisations based in the Netherlands with royal patronage
Organisations based in Utrecht (province)
Research institutes in the Netherlands