Applications

Meteorology & Climatology

Meteorology and Climatology are all about weather, from a local scale to the complete global system. Professionals in these disciplines strive to understand how our environment works and to make forecasts for both the short-term (weather) and the long-term (climate).

Atmospheric parameters such as solar radiation are important subjects of meteorological and climate research. Solar radiation drives almost every dynamic process on the Earth’s surface and above, from ocean current circulation to weather, climate, eco-systems and life itself. The determination of the radiation budget at the surface of the Earth is fundamental to understanding the Earth’s climate system, climate variability and also climate change resulting from human influence.

Therefore it is important to make high accuracy measurements of solar, atmospheric and terrestrial radiation. Kipp & Zonen instruments are the choice of meteorological organisations and climate researchers around the world who demand quality, reliability and performance.

Applications vary from small weather stations for local weather forecasts to worldwide networks of instruments for climate research that comply with the highest WMO (World Meteorological Organisation) and ISO standards.

	Russian Solar Radiation Monitoring Network In Newsletter 12 we announced that Kipp & Zonen won the international tender to supply 18 solar monitoring stations to the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet). These will be installed at key locations across Russia and are part of the major project to update and modernise the Roshydromet network from manual observations to automated measurements and centralised data collection.

	Arctic Ice research by SAMS for the international Polar Year The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) is one of the partners of the International Polar Year. It has four autonomous stations to support in-situ observations of the Arctic Synoptic Basin-wide Oceanography program. The Kipp & Zonen CNR 1 net radiometer provides the four components of the radiation balance for every station.

	BSRN The Baseline Surface Radiation Network BSRN is a key part of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). It comprises a global network of solar monitoring stations using the best equipment and practices currently available. Sites have been specifically selected for determination of local climate trends and to provide accurate ground-truthing of satellite observations.

	Improved network Improved meteorological network in Korea The Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) is the national authority for weather forecasting and managing weather related equipment, such as automatic weather stations. Due to the recent frequent and unusual changes of weather patterns and the rapidly increasing price of oil, the Korean government has enlarged the budget for climate research and renewable energy development. This enabled KMA to improve its meteorological network.

	The UK Sun Photometer Network With the increasing interest in climate change and global warming research, the effects of stratospheric aerosols are being studied in greater detail. Primarily, this refers to water vapour and suspended particles such as smoke, dust, sand and ash. These absorb and scatter solar radiation, act as nuclei for the formation of clouds and promote atmospheric chemical reactions.