Solutions for Governments and Defense

Weather-related Natural Disasters

Governments keep a close watch on meteorological conditions around the globe that can affect the country's territory and put its population at risk.

Not all natural catastrophes can be predicted well in advance, like earthquakes and tsunamis. But thanks to advanced weather forecasting technology, many others can be, and national organizations spare no effort to try to predict them and prepare for damage control, evacuation, support, and rescue missions.

Weather data can help government agencies to identify the probability and predict the development and course of ongoing events such as:

• Wildfires
• Hurricanes and tornadoes
• Avalanches
• Floods
• Intense heat or cold
• Marine hazards
• Winter storms

Search and Rescue Operations

Government organizations and military forces are involved in search and rescue operations following natural disasters and major accidents like plane and ship crashes.

To ensure that these missions don’t put more lives in danger, mission leaders must be aware of how the local weather conditions will develop.

On land, temperature, humidity, wind speed, precipitation and other factors can influence the teams’ capacity to find missing people, enter buildings and move on damaged areas.

On the ocean, wind, fog, precipitation, ocean currents, water and air temperature data is essential for planes and vessels to calculate ocean drift and determine search areas, and to assess a person’s chances of survival in the water.

Climate Change

National Security

Climate change affects military operations. Extreme temperatures can be deadly to combatants and damage infrastructure, transport, and weapons systems.

Land modifications due to receding ice caps or shifting shorelines can lead to new lines of communication and new potential invasion routes, forcing governments to replan their defense strategies. Natural disasters, food and water scarcity, and increased refugee flows are consequences of a warming climate that pose a threat to national security.

Visit our Agriculture industry page for detailed information on how climate change affects global food production and supply chain.

Cities’ Infrastructure

A warming climate will bring devastating consequences for cities around the world.

More frequent natural disasters are ravaging big areas in every continent. Basic transport infrastructure such as roads, rails, and bridges can suffer incredible damage due to high temperatures. As sea-levels rise, a number of coastal cities are being inundated, and many may completely disappear under water by 2050.

To ensure people’s safety and national economic survival, governments need to invest in optimizing cities' infrastructure to the new climate and transition to sustainable energy generation options.

Weather data and climate projections are a powerful ally to understand and better manage the challenges of climate change.

Military Operations in the Air, at Sea, and on Land

Military commanders have long understood that the weather had the power to determine the course of history. Throughout the centuries, meteorological conditions have influenced battles and decided the outcome of conflicts.

Understanding and utilizing natural phenomena to seek advantage over an enemy has been a widely employed tactic in military history. Adept tacticians have won battles by strategically exploiting the power of precipitation, flood, fog, heat, cold, ice, snow, wind, dust, and even eye-piercing sunlight.

According to historian David R. Petriello, “World War II was the war of the meteorologist,” as for the first time the scientific study of local weather patterns was a central part of both sides’ operations planning.

Today, most military forces in the world closely monitor the weather. Thanks to science and technology, we can predict many weather events and mitigate their effects, helping to protect soldiers, ensure weapon systems performance, and maintain warfighting capability.

Having access to the most precise weather data available in the market and a competent team of forecasters is thus essential for tactical advantages on the battlefield.

Air Force

With jets flying missions day and night, some air bases see as much traffic as international commercial airports around the world. Air traffic controllers must be aware and prepared for changing weather conditions to secure operations efficiency.

• Microbursts, downdrafts, lightning, and hail in thunderstorms can push aircraft downwards
• Fog, dust storms, and low cloud cover can reduce visibility, putting maneuvers at risk and compromising operations
• Ice buildup can increase drag, reduce airplane lift, and cause loss of control
• Thunderstorms, lightning, icing, hail, intense up- and downdrafts, and tornadoes can cause severe turbulence, damage aircraft, and lead to diversions

Visit our Aviation industry page for detailed information on how the weather affects flight plans and airport operations.

Space Force

Earthly weather forecasting tools don’t have any use in space, as space weather is very different from the meteorological events we experience on our planet. But the weather on Earth plays a big role in the launch of spacecraft.

Temperature, wind speed, precipitation, lightning, cloud types that contain hazardous electric fields, and cloud ceiling are meteorological conditions that are closely monitored by NASA before every retanking, launch and landing missions, and retrieval operations.

The increasing number of spacecraft being launched demands greater weather support in terms both of personnel and of equipment such as weather visualization tools capable of delivering the most up to date and accurate data.

Navy

Naval forces rely on weather forecasts to monitor hurricanes, strong winds, ice floes, fog, waves, swell, and other elements that can put their fleet at risk.

Extreme weather conditions and heavy seas:

• Are a threat to the ships’ infrastructure and combat systems
• Have debilitating effects on the crew
• Create dangerous conditions for carrier-based aircraft’s takeoff and landing
• Can be perilous to submarines emerging to the surface
• Reduce visibility making it harder to detect enemy forces

Furthermore, weather data is examined by the Navy for applications other than avoiding extreme conditions. For example, the way sound travels through water and into sediment helps strategists to map out the seabed and calculate the distance or the moving direction of an object. To accurately determine acoustic energy, they need data on salinity, water temperature, and spatial and temporal variability of the water column which are obtained with weather forecasting tools.

Army

Soldiers fighting in muddy trenches still inhabit our collective imagination. Although trench warfare is no longer frequent, ground troops still face many challenges imposed by weather conditions.

• Precipitation, snow, ice, and hail affect mobility, slowing down armored units and supply convoys
• Fog and strong surface winds that blow dust, sand, and other battlefield debris reduce visibility, limiting the ability to hit targets and locate enemy ground forces
• Extreme temperatures, wind speeds, and humidity take a toll on personnel, and can lead to vehicle and weaponry performance failure, jeopardizing missions

Visit our Transport and Logistics industry page for detailed information on how the weather affects logistics.

Many countries and regions have their own weather models. A flight from Bern to London goes through three model domains, which currently cannot be displayed in high resolution. Weather data can therefore be output inconsistently.

The new EURO1k weather model aims to solve this problem with consistent data. Precise measurement data from existing weather models form the basis and are calculated with the help of complex procedures in a high-resolution weather model with 1 km resolution.

The standard for global weather models is a resolution of 20 km. Thus, EURO1k is the first and only model in Europe capable of resolving even the smallest meteorological phenomena (thunderstorms, fog, seabreezes, etc.).

Using downscaling algorithms based on the most accurate geodata, the 1 km-resolution EURO1k even achieves model resolutions of up to 90 meters. To further refine the forecasts, the European weather model is recalculated hourly with the latest weather data.

In isolated and unstable areas, weather data is often sparser because of the dangers involved in its collection and communication constraints. Finding alternative sources of weather input is fundamental to military operations.

Meteomatics developed and manufactured its own specialized weather drones, called Meteodrones. They are engineered specifically for collecting weather observations and can operate even in some of the most challenging weather conditions, such as high winds, rain, or even icing conditions.

Test flights have been completed in the USA with the National Severe Storms Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Meteodrones are certified to operate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and can fly up to 6 km in altitude, collecting weather observations throughout their flight.

Meteomatics ingests the data captured by the Meteodrones and other observations to run a limited area model, creating a weather forecast that excels in predictions of fog, icing, thunderstorms, severe localized rainfall and lightning.