Chemical Meteorology (CHEMET) service

The Met Office’s CHEMET service is used to predict the likely dispersion track of a chemical or aerosol release in the atmosphere.

In the event of an incident involving a large fire or release of hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere, local Fire and Police services can contact the Met Office Environment Monitoring and Response Centre (EMARC) for support. Typical scenarios could be a recycling plant fire, chemical spillage or release, a fire at an industrial plant or oil depot, or a road traffic accident in which a hazardous substance has either escaped or ignited. EMARC produces meteorological guidance and a plume prediction with its chemical meteorology (CHEMET) service, used for advising where the hazardous aerosol is likely to affect on a local OS map. For larger release events, such as the Buncefield Oil Depot fire, more-sophisticated plume modelling techniques are utilised.

Buncefield Oil Depot fire case study

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

Buncefield Oil Depot fire 2005 - case study

CHEMET can also be produced for incidents where an impactful release may occur but has not yet happened (speculative) for use in planning purposes, e.g. damage to a pipeline or systems failure at an industrial plant.

What does the CHEMET service provide?

Telephone advice is available on demand to give a simple short-range prediction of the anticipated behaviour of the plume. Within 20 minutes, the formal forecast and plume map will be sent by email. The CHEMET will also be made available to view on Hazard Manager.

CHEMET consists of three elements:

• A forecast
• A map showing the plume below 100 metres
• Telephone consultation with the forecaster

When a CHEMET is requested, the Met Office meteorologist will need some information from the requesting agency about the incident, and will then use this information, combined with meteorological observations and forecasts of weather and atmospheric conditions, to run a computer model simulation that will predict the dispersion pattern of the chemical.

How do I request a CHEMET?

If you are an emergency responder or public agency, to request a CHEMET telephone the Met Office EMARC on (01392) 447947 and please identify yourself and the nature of the incident. A CHEMET may also be requested by emailing the information requested in the request guidance to [email protected], but a subsequent telephone call should always be made to ensure the request has been received by the Met Office.

Further details can be found in the CHEMET user guide on Hazard Manager.

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