EVERYBODY knows, I suppose, that Met Eireann provides forecasts for RTE radio and television, and pays particular attention to the weather needs of aviation. But other less obvious activities make up a lengthy list. Met Eireann provides weather information for search and rescue services, promulgates "weather alerts" when hazardous conditions are expected, and makes shipping forecasts and gale warnings available at regular intervals throughout the day. It also maintains a national archive of data on the Irish climate, monitors various aspects of the atmospheric environment, provides a wide variety of services to agriculture, and most recently, promulgates indications of "burn time" for sunbathers during the summer season.
All these activities represent to a greater or lesser extent what might be called the "public service" role of a national meteorological service - facilities that are partly or totally funded by Government because they are part of the national infrastructure, and seen as necessary from the point of view of public safety or amenity.
A major change in the world of meteorology in recent years, however, has been the realisation that accurate weather information has considerable commercial value. Armed with accurate weather forecasts carefully tailored to their own needs, private sector companies can gain competitive advantage by tapping ephemeral markets, avoiding expensive mistakes, or taking appropriate precautions when conditions detrimental to their individual activities are on the way.
In common with other European meteorological services, and indeed a number of private sector firms who process weather information, Met Eireann has successfully exploited this growing demand from paying customers. In so doing, it sees itself as combining the two worthy objectives of providing a valuable service to the business sector, while at the same time generating useful revenue to reduce the financial burden of the organisation on the taxpayer.
If you would like to know more about this and other aspects of Met Eireann's work, and if you receive your TV signals via Cablelink, you have a last chance today to see a 30 minute television documentary about the organisation. It has been shown for the past three evenings on the usually static "What's On" channel of Cablelink network as part of the Dublin Weekend series, and will be repeated this evening at 7 pm, and again at 11 pm. You may even recognise one or two familiar faces.