News

October 12th saw the launch of the EMRP project MeteoMet - Metrology for pressure, temperature, humidity and airspeed in the atmosphere, which was funded from EMRP Call 2010 - Environment. The opening meeting took place near Turin, Italy, at the historic Collegio Reale Carlo Alberto, home to 150 years of meteorological observations.

The MeteoMet project has 23 JRP-participants and 29 collaborators, making it the largest EMRP project ever in terms of participation. Measurements of pressure, temperature, humidity and airspeed are key to understanding the climate of the Earth and the project aims to bring sound measurement practices to both ground-based and airborne measurements of these parameters. By improving these measurements, MeteoMet will contribute to metrological and meteorological research and the better interpretation of climate data.

The guest speakers at the kick-off meeting were: Roger Atkinson of the WMO (World Meteorological Organization); Silvo Žlebir, Head of the Slovenian Environment Agency; and Luca Mercalli, Head of the Italian Meteorological Society, and celebrated author and commentator on climate.

There was strong coverage of the event by the Italian national media; it was featured on RAI 3 national television news, the science news programme ‘Leonardo’ and in the national pages of ‘La Stampa’, and online.

The day of the meeting turned out to be a record-breaking weather event in itself, with the highest October temperature ever recorded for the Turin area, of 30.3 °C. Surely, this is a good sign for the project!

EMRP Call 2010 - Environment supports the improvement of data quality for policy making, regulation and stimulating technological innovation. The next Environment Call will be in 2013.

For more information on the project, please visit the website or contact the JRP coordinator Dr Andrea Merlone.

Photos from the event