Agencia Estatal de Meteorología
Encyclopedia
Agencia Estatal de Meteorología, AEMET (translated from Spanish
as the State Meteorological Agency) is the Spain
's meteorological agency, under the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino (Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs).
It was founded in 1887 as the "Instituto Central Meteorológico", and has been renamed several times (the last one in 2008). It has its headquarters in Madrid
.
It represents Spain in international meteorological institutions, such as the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
(ECMWF).
, as well as to give support to other public and private activities which improve the safety and quality of life of the Spanish society".
Its activities include, among others, taking meteorological observations in Spain and archiving them, weather monitoring and forecasting
, and doing scientific research in numerical weather prediction
models.
To accomplish these tasks AEMET has a high computing power and a vast observation network at its disposal, including manned and automatic weather station
s, radiosonde
s, weather radar
s and lightning detectors.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
as the State Meteorological Agency) is the Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
's meteorological agency, under the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino (Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs).
It was founded in 1887 as the "Instituto Central Meteorológico", and has been renamed several times (the last one in 2008). It has its headquarters in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
.
It represents Spain in international meteorological institutions, such as the World Meteorological Organization
World Meteorological Organization
The World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 189 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization , which was founded in 1873...
(WMO), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by 19 European Member States and 15 Co-operating States...
(ECMWF).
Activities and resources
AEMET's main task is "to develop, implement and provide meteorological services falling within the competences of the StateSovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
, as well as to give support to other public and private activities which improve the safety and quality of life of the Spanish society".
Its activities include, among others, taking meteorological observations in Spain and archiving them, weather monitoring and forecasting
Weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
, and doing scientific research in numerical weather prediction
Numerical weather prediction
Numerical weather prediction uses mathematical models of the atmosphere and oceans to predict the weather based on current weather conditions. Though first attempted in the 1920s, it was not until the advent of computer simulation in the 1950s that numerical weather predictions produced realistic...
models.
To accomplish these tasks AEMET has a high computing power and a vast observation network at its disposal, including manned and automatic weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
s, radiosonde
Radiosonde
A radiosonde is a unit for use in weather balloons that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them to a fixed receiver. Radiosondes may operate at a radio frequency of 403 MHz or 1680 MHz and both types may be adjusted slightly higher or lower as required...
s, weather radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
s and lightning detectors.