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News
12.08.07

For the past 10 years I have been taking images from a geostationary weather satellite called Meteosat 7. Although the images have been quite good they have lacked any real detail. The system Meteostat used was based on analogue technology. From June 2006 the owners of Meteostat moved the satellite to another part of the world so basically the analogue signal became unavailable.

The good news however is that it was replaced by a new satellite called MSG1 this uses another satellite called Hot Bird to relay its transmissions. MSG1 is part of a new generation of satellites to use digital technology to produce stunning colour images of our weather systems. In order to receive the images I have had to obtain a licence from the Met Office and Eumetsat together with software and a PCI card. The satellite dish is 85cm diameter. The new system has now been running for the past year and is certainly a vast improvement on the old analoque Meteostat images.  With a bit of luck I should be able to give a more accurate forecast!!.

Every effort is being made to ensure that the weather instruments are giving out accurate readings. The barometric pressure for instance has been adjusted for sea level. In addition to this I check and compare the pressure at several different location eg London City Airport, Heathrow, Southend and Stansted Airport. I am confident that my barometric pressure is accurate to within +/-  1.0mb's

With humidity readings these too are checked using a BS standard wet and dry bulb sling hygrometer. The readings are then plotted using a Psychrometric chart to give the percentage humidity. Given the limitations of my readings and the accuracy of the sling hygrometer I still expect an accuracy of +/- 5%.

Again the wind direction indicator has been set up using a good quality compass. Wind speed has also been checked using two independent anemometers. ]

The outside temperature reading is checked against a Met office BS692 glass / alcohol thermometer which has been individually calibrated. The thermometer is graduated in 0.5C steps 

Outside temperature and humidity readings are taken 1.25mtrs from the ground in line with Met Office recommendations. 

Last updated 12.08.07