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1882: Synoptic charts are drawn for the North Atlantic for the period 1 August-3 September. These form the basis for discussions about weather systems. 1909: Transatlantic shipping starts to use wireless telegraphy to transmit weather messages ashore. 1914-1918: The Great War highlights the importance of weather forecasts for military operations.
1939: The start of World War II sees the introduction of radiosondes to gather observations from the upper air - a collection of balloon-borne sensors transmit data on pressure, temperature and humidity to receiving sites on land. Later developments in radar enabled upper winds to be computed.
1942: The Meteorological Research Flight is formed using aircraft of the RAF. 1944: The RAF Chief Meteorologist - Group Captain James Stagg (a Met Office employee) briefs General Dwight D Eisenhower on 5 June that a 36-hour 'weather window' is imminent. This prompts Eisenhower to order the start of Operation Overlord on 6 June. (The D-Day landings had been planned for 5 June, but had been delayed by 24 hours the previous day owing to bad weather.) 1946: Under recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Meteorological Organization, 13 permanent North Atlantic stations (maintained by a consortium of eight countries) are set up to provide vital marine weather data. The Met Office (for the UK) uses four converted ex-Royal Navy corvettes to man two stations and share the operation of another. 1953: A severe depression and storm surge in the North Sea causes catastrophic flooding in south-east England. This leads to planning and eventual construction of the Thames Barrier, also the development of the Met Office's Storm Tide Forecasting Service.
1958: The Met Office becomes an approved place of deposit for weather records under the Public Records Act.
1962: Her Majesty the Queen performs the official opening ceremony at Bracknell. The Met Office takes delivery of its first electronic computer so that numerical forecast techniques can be applied operationally. 1964: The first operational satellite images become available. 1972: An IBM 360/195 computer is installed in the Richardson Wing of the Bracknell headquarters, creating the world's most technically advanced forecast centre. 1973: The UK joins the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (based at Reading) as one of the founding members to support the production and research into medium-range forecasts. 1974: The Met Office takes part in the first global observing field experiment. 1978: The US Tiros-N satellite is launched. It carries the first Met Office stratospheric sounding unit, designed to make world-wide measurements of stratospheric temperature. 1981: The Met Office's first supercomputer - the Cyber 205 - is installed to run the new 15-level atmospheric model. The airborne spread of foot-and-mouth disease to livestock on the south coast of England is predicted, and subsequently happens. 1982: The first global operational forecasting model is introduced to assist in operations for the Falklands War. 1984: World Area Forecasting Centre status for aviation is accredited to the Met Office. 1985: British scientists detect sharp seasonal reductions in the earth's stratospheric ozone layer. 1986: An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor leads to the creation of the Nuclear Accident Model which is used to model the dispersion of a wide range of atmospheric pollution problems. 1987: A severe storm inflicts major damage to large areas of southern and south-east England. It leads to a review of forecasting methods and the development of the National Severe Weather Warning Service. 1988: A new supercomputer - the ETA 10 - is installed.
Accurate predictions and warnings are issued by the Met Office for a major storm to cross the UK and parts of north-west Europe during 25 and 26 January. The Met Office Hadley Centre is opened. 1991: A Cray Y-MP supercomputer is installed and, for the first time, a single numerical model (merging ocean and atmosphere) is used for climate and weather prediction. 1996: A network of European national meteorological services (EUMETNET) is established with the help of the Met Office. The Met Office becomes a Trading Fund. 1998: Volcanic activity in Iceland releases vast quantities of ash into the atmosphere. The Met Office's dispersion model successfully predicts how it will behave and so averts aircraft disasters. 2001: During the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease the Met Office provides a range of services to Defra and other UK government departments involved in disease control in this country and the near continent. 2002: The Met Office provides guidance and support to senior planners and operational staff for Operation Veritas in Afghanistan. The Mobile Meteorological Unit is deployed to theatre. With the construction of a new headquarters building in Exeter nearing completion, the Met Office starts a gradual relocation of its entire operation to the new site.
For Operation Telic in Iraq the coalition joint operational area forecast is developed with the US. The Mobile Meteorological Unit is deployed to theatre. During the year it is 'business as usual' as the Met Office continues - and completes - its relocation programme.
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