Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO; ) is

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

's national weather service and as such a government agency under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. It is also active in

volcano monitoring Prediction of volcanic activity, and volcanic eruption forecasting, is an interdisciplinary monitoring and research effort to predict the time and severity of a volcano's eruption. Of particular importance is the prediction of hazardous eruptions ...

, esp.

volcano seismology A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fou ...

, and, together with other institutions, responsible for

civil protection Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, ...

in IcelandMission. About the Icelandic Meteorological Office. (28.5.2010)
Retrieved 18 August 2020.

Aims and functions

"The research focus of IMO is on

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...

and

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

, atmospheric processes,

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

and

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

studies,

hydrological Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

systems,

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

and

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

processes and geohazards. IMO also focuses on research in multi-parameter

geophysical Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...

monitoring to develop more accurate forecasts of hazardous events. IMO has participated in several European and Nordic funded research projects, having the role of lead partner in many of them."An example is the FUTUREVOLC-Project.

History of the institution

IMO was founded on 1 January

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

as a solely meteorological institute. Til in

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

, it was part of another institution (Löggildingarstofa). Since then, it is an independent institution under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. From 2009 on, the Institution for Hydrology (Vatnamælingar) was integrated into IMO. 80 years after foundation, in the year 2000, a book was published about the history of the Icelandic Met Office (Hilmar Garðarsson: ''Saga Veðurstofu Íslands''), 100 years after foundation, in 2020, a statue was erected for IMO.

General directors

General directors of the institution are: Þorkell Þorkelsson (from 1920 to 1946), Teresía Guðmundsson (from 1946 to 1963), Hlynur Sigtryggsson (from 1963 to 1989), Páll Bergþórsson (from 1989 to 1993), Magnús Jónsson (from 1994 to 2008) and

Árni Snorrason Árni is an Icelandic language, Icelandic given name of Old Norse () origin. Notable people with the name include: * Árni Gautur Arason (born 1975), Icelandic football goalkeeper * Árni Már Árnason (born 1987), Icelandic Olympic swimmer * Árn ...

(since 2009).

Equipment

From 2016, the Icelandic ''Veðurstofa'' manages a dual

Cray XC30 The Cray XC30 is a massively parallel multiprocessor supercomputer manufactured by Cray. It consists of Intel Xeon processors, with optional Nvidia Tesla or Xeon Phi accelerators, connected together by Cray's proprietary "Aries" interconnect, ...

system for the

Danish Meteorological Institute The Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI; ) is the official Danish meteorological institute, administrated by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities. It makes weather forecasts and observations for Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Is ...

weather prediction Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...

, due to cheaper electricity and cooling. One is used for development, the other for daily operations.

References

External links

Icelandic Meteorological Office
— Official Website (in Icelandic)
Icelandic Meteorological Office
— Official Website {{authority control Climate of Iceland Governmental meteorological agencies in Europe Organizations based in Iceland Government agencies of Iceland Volcanology in Iceland Emergency management in Europe Volcano monitoring Volcano seismology