How was it? Our visit to KNMI

On November 22nd over 50 NVR members attended a very interesting visit to the KNMI in De Bilt. The slots for this excursion were booked in record time, and we are very pleased that this excursion met such great interest with our members. 

The Koninklijke Nederlands Meteorogisch Instituut (KNMI) or Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute is the Dutch national weather service. Primary tasks of KNMI are weather forecasting and monitoring of weather, climate, air quality and seismic activity. KNMI is also the national research and information centre for meteorology, climate, air quality and seismology.

Learning through in-depth presentations

We were welcomed by Frank Helmich – Manager R&D Satellite Observations – who gave us an introduction of the institute and highlighted the very high importance of satellite data for weather and climate forecasting. We learned that not less than 80% of the short-term and medium-term weather forecasting relies upon data coming from satellites. With the next generation of MTG (Meteosat Third Generation) satellites which is currently underway, the accuracy and predictability of the weather forecasting will be further improved.

Very interesting presentations were made by Rob Sluijter on the Early Warning Centre , which will allow the forecasting of weather extremes to be much more precise. For example it will allow making predictions on smaller regions – today we get most data on province-level.

The following presentation was made by Pepijn Veefkind who gave us a detailed insight into the Netherlands-developed TROPOMI instrument which was launched in 2017 onboard the Sentinel-5 precursor satellite. This satellite is in a polar orbit of 824 kilometers. TROPOMI is the most advanced multispectral imaging spectrometer monitoring and detecting a wide range of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, sulphur dioxide, methane and carbon monoxide.

Getting to know KNMI at work

After the presentations, the NVR members split up into groups for a visit to the weather room, the calibration room and the wind tunnel. The weather room is composed of four main stations, or consoles, where 24/7 monitoring surveillance is performed for key users such as aviation (Schiphol, Rotterdam, Lelystad), the maritime sector (NorthSea), regional stakeholders, or the security domain (traffic, rivers, ect).

Dr. Frank Helmich concluded the tour with an overview of the satellite technologies and programs used by KNMI for the weather and climate forecasting applications. He highlighted four main areas that KNMI focuses on: Space weather, atmospheric dynamics (wind on sea), tropospheric emissions, as well as clouds, aerosols and radiation balance. He also gave an overview of new programmes under development such as the MTG satellites, Aeolus 2, Sterma, Harmony, and Tango.

Our members’ wishes for the future

The visit ended with a pleasant reception offered by KNMI during which further exchanges took place. Many NVR members expressed the hope that more visits to companies and/or organisations will be planned by NVR in the next few years. We shall look into it!