Lerwick Observatory (also known as ''Lerwick Magnetic Observatory'') is a British meteorological observatory located near the port at

Lerwick, Shetland Islands Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland a ...

, United Kingdom. It is one of three permanent geomagnetic observatories in the United Kingdom.

History

The Norwegian government requested that the British establish a meteorological observatory in the Shetland Islands, after

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amu ...

expressed a desire to compare notes on the

Aurora Borealis An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of b ...

he observed during his expedition in 1920. The observatory is operated by the

Met 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 ...

References

{{Reflist Met Office Meteorological observatories Lerwick