Environmental capabilities

The Met Office is committed to providing world-leading weather and climate change services to governments, business, organisations and the general public.

Climate change

Graphic UK map and UK Climate Projections on a sunny background.

Businesses, organisations and governments are increasingly including climate change adaptation strategies in their policy, planning and operational activities to reduce risk and improve efficiencies. The Met Office is one of the world’s foremost leading climate change centres and continues to work with clients who require an accurate interpretation of what this means to them.

Information that is available in the public domain is often too general to be useful in our rapidly changing world. The Met Office is able to provide accurate, site-specific information which can be used to directly inform you to make the best decisions.

UK Climate Projections 2009

We can working with to help you analyse and interpret the complexities of the climate change data issued by UK Climate Projections 2009. These projections give detailed climate projections for the UK, at a higher level of detail than ever before. Critically, they give a large range of possible futures and the uncertainty associated with these projections.

Benefits of working with the Met Office

  • Our science underpins the UKCP09 projections.
  • We have direct access to the scientists that produced the projections.
  • We are experienced in applying the climate projections to various industries and can help you identify the business impacts of any analysis.

Air quality

From providing detailed weather data for dispersion modelling to in-depth advice and support, we can help you to monitor and report on environmental conditions more effectively, and enable you to take swift and appropriate action.

Air quality forecasts

Case study 1

Our long-range dispersion model (NAME) was used to assess likely radiation levels in areas of scarce monitoring data. The model simulated the transport of the radioactive emissions across western Europe and into the UK to within a few hours of its observed arrival time.

The forecasts are made using NAME, the Met Office’s medium- to long-range atmospheric dispersion model. It was originally developed as a nuclear accident model following the Chernobyl incident in 1986, but has since evolved into an all-purpose dispersion model capable of predicting the transport, transformation and deposition of a wide class of airborne materials. NAME is used operationally by the Met Office as an emergency response model as well as for routine air quality forecasting. Further applications of NAME include pollution episode analysis and attribution, scientific research work and commercial applications.

Our services are designed for managers with responsibility for environmental issues and air quality in organisations, including:

Case study 2

Find out more about how we helped during the Buncefield Oil Depot fire in 2005.

  • Governments
  • Local authorities
  • Regulators
  • Power generators
  • Petrochemical companies
  • Consultancies
  • Research bodies

The benefits of working with the Met Office

  • A team of dedicated air-quality specialists provides advice and practical support to industry, government, local authorities and consultants, long- and short-range model consultancy.
  • We use the latest dispersion models and can provide results for inclusion in your own reports or completed reports for submission to regulators.
  • We’ve been supplying real-time operational forecast information for many decades.
  • Our air-quality forecast system supports governments throughout the world, helping to predict the impact of hazardous releases on the atmosphere — including nuclear accidents.

Weather Sensitivity Analysis

Weather Sensitivity Analysis (WSA) is a specialised service designed to uncover and quantify the precise relationship between the weather and your business performance. This comprehensive resource offers a valuable insight into how weather affects consumer behaviour and product/service demand.

How WSA works

Your historical sales and marketing data are gathered along with specific weather data provided by us. This collated information is analysed and a report produced that documents the effects of the weather on your industry and the correlation between sales performance and the specific weather activity.

Expert consultants work with you to ensure that the analysis is based on a real understanding of how weather affects your industry and your customers’ demands in particular. Analyses are based on our vast, quality-controlled database of global weather information — we can provide in-depth analyses of the relationships between weather elements and summer and winter demand.

To find out more about our environmental solutions contact our Customer Centre or email consulting@metofffice.gov.uk