| Agencia Estatal de Meteorología | |
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | August 18, 1887; 138 years ago (1887-08-18) |
| Type | meteorological service |
| Headquarters | Madrid,Spain |
| Employees | 1,083 (2023)[1] |
| Annual budget | € 133.8 million, 2023[2] |
| Agency executive |
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| Parent agency | Ministry of Environment |
| Website | www |
TheState Meteorological Agency (Spanish:Agencia Estatal de Meteorología,AEMET) is astate agency of theGovernment of Spain responsible for providingweather forecast, warnings of hazardous weather and assisting the administrations in such matters. The AEMET is part of the Secretariat of State for Environment of theMinistry for the Ecological Transition and is headquartered in theUniversity City,Madrid. The agency was known asCentral Institute of Meteorology from 1887 to 1978 andNational Institute of Meteorology from 1978 to 2008 when it adopted its current name.[4]
The AEMET performs forecasting based on weather and climate modelling from data collected from its network of monitoring centers. The agency has centers distributed through theregions and it has offices in almost every airport and air force base. In addition, there are monitoring observatories spread throughout the Spanish geography.
It represents Spain in international meteorological institutions, such as theWorld Meteorological Organization (WMO), theEuropean Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and theEuropean Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).
It was founded in 1887 as the "Instituto Central Meteorológico" by Royal Decree of August 12[5] and it was part of the Directorate-General for Public Instruction of theMinistry of Development. As stated in the founding Decree, the Institute had to "especially calculate and announce the probable weather to the ports and capitals of the province, without prejudice to the other scientific and practical work entrusted to it."[5] The creation of the agency was promoted by the Development Minister Carlos Navarro Rodrigo andFrancisco Giner de los Ríos, founder of theInstitución Libre de Enseñanza, in an attempt to correct the country's delayed development of modern science. It was the first institution dedicated to the meteorological service in Spain. Its first director was the scientific Augusto Arcimís who remained in office until 1910. The first headquarters of the institute was the Castle building in theRetiro Park, Madrid.
With different denominations this agency has been playing the role of "National Meteorological Service" since its creation. During theSecond Republic, in 1933, it became dependent on the Directorate-General for Aeronautics of the Ministry of War. After theCivil War, in 1940, all the meteorological services were unified in the renowned "National Meteorological Service", which was attached to the Ministry of Air. In 1962 a new building was inaugurated in theUniversity City of Madrid that in the 70s assumed the central services.[6]
In the democratic period, a new restructuring took place in 1978, when it was renamed the National Institute of Meteorology (INM) and became dependent on theMinistry of Transport and Communications.[7] The second and last restructuring of the agency happened in 2008, when the National Meteorological Institute was renamed State Meteorological Agency and it assumed all the goods and responsibilities of its predecessors.[4]
AEMET's main task is "to develop, implement and provide meteorological services falling within the competences of theState, as well as to give support to other public and private activities which improve the safety and quality of life of the Spanish society".
Its activities include, among others, taking meteorological observations in Spain and archiving them,weather monitoring and forecasting, and doing scientific research innumerical weather prediction models.
To accomplish these tasks AEMET has at its disposal high computing power and a vast observation network, including staffed and automaticweather stations,radiosondes,weather radar andlightning detectors.[8]
