The Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (KMI-IRM ) owes its fame to the services it provides its users, in the form of forecasts, information and technical knowledge in the area of hydrometeorology, climatology and geophysics. The Institute has five research departments in the areas of atmospheric science and geophysics, meteorology, hydrology, geomagnetism and magnetohydrodynamics. The KMI-IRM also has a department that observes and processes information using an advanced IT infrastructure and
telecommunications equipment. All observations recorded are archived with a view to the long-term evaluation of their stability and forecastability. After the restructuring in 1999, the KMI-IRM was given a department with specific sections, i.e. hydrometeorological modelling, dynamic meteorology and climatology, and
risk analysis and sustainability. Through their specific contributions, the various research units fit within the multinational groups set up in recent years.
The RMI is located in Uccle, in a site shared with the Royal Observatory of Belgium and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy. Among other remarkable places on site, the climatological park of the RMI is the reference in Belgium for climatology. Under the authority of BELSPO, the RMI makes its priority in providing meteorological warnings to the Belgian population, along with the European organization Meteoalarm. The Institute gives daily weather forecasts to the public and to a few specific sectors including agriculture, transport, media and energy. Moreover, the RMI publishes a monthly climatological report, containing for every day of the previous month data on wind speed, average/minimum/maximum temperature, precipitation, insolation. It is entirely free and accessible through the RMI website.[2] The current face of RMI reflects the importance given to scientific meteorological research, in the fields of forecasting, issues concerning
atmosphere and climate, the hydrological cycle, observations’ systems, magnetism and the ionosphere.
Last Updated on: Nov 25, 2024