The Norwegian Meteorological Institute ( no, Meteorologisk institutt), also known internationally as MET Norway, is

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

's national

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 ...

institute. It provides

weather forecast 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 cent ...

s for civilian and military uses and conducts research in meteorology,

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynami ...

and

climatology Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. This modern field of stu ...

. It is headquartered in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and has offices and stations in other cities and places. It has around 500 full-time staff and was founded in 1866.

History

The institute was founded on 1 December 1866 with the help of Norwegian astronomer and meteorologist

Henrik Mohn Henrik Mohn (15 May 1835 – 12 September 1916) was a Norwegian astronomer and meteorologist. Although he enrolled in theology studies after finishing school, he is credited with founding meteorological research in Norway, being a professor at t ...

who served as its director until 1913. He is credited with founding

research in Norway. The abbreviation ''MET Oslo'' or ''MET OSLO'' has been used internationally for a long time; the

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Inter ...

for example recommended in 1956 that its members standardized references to this institute as ''MET OSLO''.Abridged Final Report of the Session, Commission for Marine Meteorology, Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization, p. 47, 1956

Activities

The institute has around 500 employees and some 650 part-time observers around the country. It also operated the last remaining weather ship in the world, MS ''Polarfront'', stationed in the North Atlantic, until it was discontinued due to budgetary issues on 1 January 2010 and replaced with satellite and

buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of y ...

data. The institute represents Norway in international organizations like the

(WMO), the

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by most of the nations of Europe. It is based at three sites: Shinfield Park, Reading, United Kingdom; Bologna, Italy; an ...

(ECMWF), and EUMETSAT. The institute is also partner to a number of international research and monitoring projects including EMEP, MyOcean, MyWave and the

North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System The North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System (NOOS) monitors physical, sedimentological and ecological variables for the North Sea area. NOOS is operated by partners from the nine countries bordering the extended North Sea and European N ...

(NOOS).

Services

The institute with its three branches in Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø provides weather forecasts for Norway and Norwegian waters as well as more specialized services such as ice monitoring,

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into t ...

and search and rescue forecast services. Marine forecasts of sea state parameters are issued both commercially to oil companies and more generally for the public. The institute also provides data for the free online service yr.no, launched in 2007, which provides weather forecasts for some 7 million places in the world.

Observational network

The institute is responsible for maintaining, quality checking, archiving and updating the observational network consisting of automated weather stations,

radiosonde A radiosonde is a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere usually by a weather balloon that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them by radio to a ground receiver. Modern radiosondes measure or calcula ...

s and

weather radar Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse- ...

s. The marine observations of

wave height In fluid dynamics, the wave height of a surface wave is the difference between the elevations of a crest and a neighboring trough. ''Wave height'' is a term used by mariners, as well as in coastal, ocean and naval engineering. At sea, the te ...

and other oceanographic parameters gathered by petroleum platforms in Norwegian waters are also archived by the institute.

Forecast models

The institute produces operational weather forecasts using different numerical weather prediction models including the Unified Model and HIRLAM. The forecasts are subject to modifications introduced by human forecasters before being issued. The institute also runs a suite of operational ocean models ranging in resolution from 20 km to less than 1 km. The model suite currently comprises both the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) as well as the more recent Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). The wave model WAM has been in operational use since 1998 on a number of grid resolutions ranging from 50 km down to 4 km while the SWAN model has been implemented for coastal high-resolution (less than 1 km grid resolution) applications.

Directors of MET Norway

(1866–1913) * (1914–15) * (1915–55) * Ragnar Fjørtoft (1955–78) *

Kaare Langlo Kaare Langlo (7 October 1913 in Bergen, Norway – 7 October 1985 in Oslo) was a Norwegian meteorologist. He contributed to establishing meteorology as an important scientific field both in Norway and internationally. Langlo was assistant gener ...

(1978–83) * Arne Grammeltvedt (1984–98) * Anton Eliassen (1998–2016) * Roar Skålin (2017– )

References

External links

*
Information about yr.no (in English)
{{Authority control Governmental meteorological agencies in Europe 1866 establishments in Norway