The Hellenic National Meteorological Service (HNMS) () is a government agency responsible for making weather forecasts and observations for

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. HNMS was founded in 1931 under the

Ministry of Aviation The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply. ...

and its mission was to cover all the meteorological and climatological needs of the country. It is based at the former

Athens International Airport Athens International Airport ''Eleftherios Venizelos'' , commonly initialised as AIA, is the largest international airport in Greece, serving the city of Athens and region of Attica. It began operation on 28 March 2001 (in time for the 2004 Su ...

Elliniko Elliniko (, meaning 'Hellenic' or 'Greek') is a coastal municipality in the Attica region and a southern suburban town in the Athens agglomeration in Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality of Ellin ...

, and operates under the auspices of the

Hellenic Air Force The Hellenic Air Force (HAF; , sometimes abbreviated as ΠΑ) is the air force of Greece (''Hellenic'' being the endonym for ''Greek'' in the Greek language). It is considered to be one of the largest air forces in NATO, and is globally placed 1 ...

, staffed by both military and civilian personnel.

Description

Among the primary goals of the HNMS is the weather forecast. At the same time, it also provides valuable information on weather and climate, state services, transport, agriculture, sport, etc. HNMS employs approximately 565 people, in its main building at Elliniko and in branches throughout Greece, as its weather network covers almost the entire country. The class "A" meteorologists are officers from the

Hellenic Air Force Academy The Hellenic Air Force Academy (, abbr. ΣΙ (SI)) is a military academy responsible for supplying the Hellenic Air Force with military pilots, aeronautical engineers, air traffic and air defence controllers. The first Greek institution for avi ...

and civilians from universities formed in

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and IT. Additional military and civilian personnel of other specialties (administrative, financial, technical, weather observation) complete the staff. HNMS cooperates with the national weather services of other countries in exchange of meteorological observations,

meteorological satellite A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites are mainly of two types: polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asyn ...

data,

weather radar A weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern w ...

information, etc. It is part of EUMETNET,

EUMETSAT The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organisation created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States. EUMETSAT's primary ...

and

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...

(WMO).

External links

* {{National Meteorological Organisations Climate of Greece Governmental meteorological agencies in Europe Military units and formations of the Hellenic Air Force 1931 establishments in Greece Elliniko-Argyroupoli