Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO; is, Veðurstofa Íslands) is

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

's national weather service and as such a government agency under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. It is also active in volcano monitoring, esp. volcano seismology, and, together with other institutions, responsible for civil protection in IcelandMission. About the Icelandic Meteorological Office. (28.5.2010)
Retrieved 18 August 2020.

Aims and functions

"The research focus of IMO is on

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...

and

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 ...

, atmospheric processes,

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

and

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and ea ...

studies, hydrological systems,

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 ...

and

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...

processes and geohazards. IMO also focuses on research in multi-parameter geophysical monitoring to develop more accurate forecasts of hazardous events. IMO has participated in several European and Nordic funded research projects, having the role of lead partner in many of them."An example is the FUTUREVOLC-Project.

History of the institution

IMO was founded on 1 January

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

as a solely meteorological institute. Til in 1925, it was part of another institution (Löggildingarstofa). Since then, it is an independent institution under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. From 2009 on, the Institution for Hydrology (Vatnamælingar) was integrated into IMO. 80 years after foundation, in the year 2000, a book was published about the history of the Icelandic Met Office (Hilmar Garðarsson: ''Saga Veðurstofu Íslands''), 100 years after foundation, in 2020, a statue was erected for IMO.

General directors

General directors of the institution are: Þorkell Þorkelsson (from 1920 to 1946), Teresía Guðmundsson (from 1946 to 1963), Hlynur Sigtryggsson (from 1963 to 1989), Páll Bergþórsson (from 1989 to 1993), Magnús Jónsson (from 1994 to 2008) and

Árni Snorrason Árni is an Icelandic given name of Old Norse () origin. Notable people with the name include: * Árni Gautur Arason (born 1975), Icelandic football goalkeeper * Árni Már Árnason (born 1987), Icelandic Olympic swimmer * Árni Páll Árnason ...

(since 2009).

Equipment

From 2016, the Icelandic ''Veðurstofa'' manages a dual

Cray XC30 The Cray XC30 is a massively parallel multiprocessor supercomputer manufactured by Cray. It consists of Intel Xeon processors, with optional Nvidia Tesla or Xeon Phi accelerators, connected together by Cray's proprietary "Aries" interconnect, s ...

system for the Danish Meteorological Institute as weather prediction, due to cheaper electricity and cooling. One is used for development, the other for daily operations.

References

External links

Icelandic Meteorological Office
— Official Website (in Icelandic) *
Icelandic Meteorological Office
— Official Website {{authority control Climate of Iceland Governmental meteorological agencies in Europe Organizations based in Iceland Government agencies of Iceland Volcanology in Iceland Disaster prevention in Iceland Volcano monitoring Volcano seismology