New Year Greetings

01.01.2024

Thanks to our clients, we were once again able to contribute our services to a wide range of meteorological and software-related topics in the past year: Monitoring of radioactivity measuring devices, radiosonde ascents, airborne measurements of radioactivity and volcanic ash, recording of meteorological observations, recording of meteorological events, monitoring of the availability of lightning data, visualisation of meteorological information, provision of the results of mesoscale simulations, weather conditions for stratospheric drones, hydrometeorological information obtained with weather radars, warnings of persistent extreme weather events, prediction of weather events for landscape photographers, atmospheric circulation patterns, climatology for aviation meteorology, climate forecasts, climate factors for energy certificates.

Using our experience and expertise in the combination of meteorology and software development to develop solutions for our clients both challenges and inspires us. We utilise our creative ideas, the synergies from the various meteorological and software engineering fields and our ability to see the big picture without losing sight of the essentials. The desire to develop high-quality, practical, targeted and customer-orientated solutions has motivated us again last year.

We would like to thank all our clients for the trust they have once again placed in us and our services.

We wish you all, as well as our co-operation partners, business partners and friends of MeteoSolutions GmbH, a peaceful and healthy New Year.

In memory of our former employee Daniel Sacher, one part of our annual donations this year will once again go to the home of his disabled son and the other part to Naturefund for the protection of the rainforest in Madagascar.

EMS contribution with poster on the OBeLiSk project

16.08.2023

MeteoSolutions GmbH is represented at this year's EMS (European Meteorological Society) meeting, which will take place as a hybrid event in Bratislava from September 3 to 8, 2023, with a poster on results from the OBeLiSk project. The poster is assigned to the "Session OSA2.4 - Reducing weather risks to transport: air, sea and land" and is titled "Analysis of suitable weather conditions for the operation of HAPS (High Altitude Pseudo Satellites)". The poster was developed in cooperation with the German Weather Service (DWD) and with the support of Leichtwerk AG. It will be presented on site by DWD colleague Dr. Falk Anger on Thursday, September 7, 2023, 16:00-17:15.


First results in the project OBeLiSk

19.04.2023

On behalf of the German National Meteorological Service (DWD), MeteoSolutions GmbH is involved in an R&D project of the Federal Aeronautical Research Programme (LuFo VI-1) funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).

When developing a concept of operations for so-called HAPS (High Altitude Pseudo Satellites), which are to serve as stratospheric platforms, particular consideration must be given to the weather conditions at the airports that will be used for HAPS take-offs and landings. Due to the structural limitations imposed by the lightweight design, HAPS can reach their limits very quickly in certain weather conditions. Together with Leichtwerk AG, the designer of the HAPS, thresholds were therefore defined for various meteorological parameters and climatological evaluations were carried out at airports based on these values. The objective was to determine the frequencies of “potential operating hours”, i.e. hours during which the weather situation at an airport allows HAPS to take off or land safely. For example, the multi-year mean diurnal variation in potential operating hours indicates the times of day when weather conditions at an airport are most likely to permit HAPS take-offs or landings. In the following figure for Munich Airport, it can be seen that in the spring and summer seasons the late evening hours and in the fall and winter seasons the late afternoon hours are best suited for HAPS operations.

Tagesrang potentieller Betriebsstunden ermittelt über den Zeitraum 01/2002-12/2021

These and other results were presented at a meeting in Braunschweig in March and received with great interest by the project partners. As part of this meeting a visit to Leichtwerk AG also took place. The following photo shows the participants of the meeting in the Leichtwerk AG construction hall in front of an Eta, the world's largest and most powerful sports glider designed by Leichtwerk AG (representative of Programme Management Agency for Aviation Research (DLR), Institute of Flight Guidance (IFF) of the Technical University of Braunschweig, German National Meteorological Service, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, Leichtwerk AG, Unisphere GmbH, MeteoSolutions GmbH [managing director Jürgen Lang, fourth from left]).


© Foto: Andreas Udovic

Supporting the StuMeTa 2023

22.03.2023

Yet again this year, MeteoSolutions GmbH supports the student meteorology conference (StuMeTa 2023), which is hosted by meteorology students at the Department of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences of the Universität Innsbruck, from the 17th to the 21th of May 2022. With our donation we pursue further promoting young meteorologists in German-speaking countries.

visIvis® - Detection of snow cover from camera images

21.12.2022

In a joint project between JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH, Graz, Austria, Germany’s National Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD), Offenbach am Main, Germany and MeteoSolutions GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany, it was shown for a camera site on the mountain Wasserkuppe, Germany that visIvis® can be used to robustly detect snow cover based on camera images. While visIvis® was primarily developed for visibility estimation from camera images and is already in pre-operational use at the DWD, it is shown that the systemcan also producean estimation of the percentage of snow cover from camera images automatically and a trend in the development of snow cover. Even at night, good results could be achieved despite the lack of light sources in the direct vicinity.

visIvis®-result: classification as “snow patches”
visIvis®-result: classification as “snow patches” (snow cover between ≥ 10 % and < 50 %) © DWD

New Year greetings

20.12.2022
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We wish you a powerful start into the new year 2023

Very gratefully, we look back on the year that is coming to an end. It was a successful business year for the MeteoSolutions GmbH. And our look ahead also gives cause for joy. We start the new year 2023 with good economic prospects.

At the same time, we are aware that there are people who are doing less well in the current more difficult environment. However, we also know from the past that problems contribute to more mutual help and increased togetherness. Growing challenges and more complex tasks also lead to resources being pooled and forces being strengthened through community.

It is in this spirit that we start the New Year and also see our donation this year. A part will again go to the residential home of the handicapped son of our deceased employee Daniel Sacher and the other part to the Darmstädter Tafel e.V..

We would like to thank our clients and business partners for the exciting and interesting tasks, the many constructive and forward-looking, solution-oriented discussions, and the great confidence in our services.

We wish you a merry and joyful Christmas.

Best regards, Jürgen Lang and the team of MeteoSolutions GmbH

visIvis® scores in Paris with new function

07.12.2022

MTWE is one of the most important meteorological trade fairs on a global level and a wonderful platform to present the latest development of the camera-based visibility measurement system visIvis®. The system is now able to perform automated detection of snow cover from camera images in a 24/7 operation.

The expert Jean-Philippe Andreu (JOANNEUM RESEARCH DIGITAL) presented the innovation to an interested audience of experts during his lecture "Transfer Learning with Change Monitoring for Camera-Based Snow Detection" at the scientific conference TECO-2022 - Technical Conference on Meteorological and Environmental Instruments and Methods of Observation, which accompanied the MTWE. Mr Andreu's presentation attracted a lot of attention and was also one of the reasons for the lively attendance at our stand. There was increased interest from the air traffic management sector, which is increasingly relying on remote tower solutions and digitalisation.

In addition to intensifying existing contacts with the DWD - German Weather Service, we were also able to arouse great interest among other key stakeholders such as MetOffice UK and MeteoFrance, as well as among stakeholders from overseas.

Further information on the leading software visIvis® can be found on the product website!

MeteoSolutions auf der MTWE 2018 in Amsterdam
The DIGITAL and MeteoSolutions team at the MTWE stand in Paris. Our team (f.l.t.r.) Jürgen Lang (MeteoSolutions), Harald Ganster (JOANNEUM RESEARCH DIGITAL) and Jean-Philippe Andreu (JOANNEUM RESEARCH DIGITAL).

MeteoSolutions supports the DWD in a R+D-project

13.04.2022
OBeLiSk (Operationelles Betriebskonzept zur sicheren und effizienten Luftraumintegration von Stratosphärenplattformen)
Operationelles Betriebskonzept zur sicheren und effizienten Luftraumintegration von Stratosphärenplattformen
Gefördert durch: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie

As a subcontractor1) of the Germany’s National Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD), MeteoSolutions GmbH supports the development of meteorological products for the use of unmanned High Altitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS), which are mainly used for observation purposes or for telecommunication applications. The background is the participation of the DWD in the R+D joint project OBeLiSk together with the further partners DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (Germany’s Air Navigation Service Provider), Institute of Flight Guidance of the Technische Universität Braunschweig (Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany), Leichtwerk Research GmbH and Unisphere GmbH. The project is funded by the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate action (BMWK) as part of the Federal Aviation Research Programme VI-1.

HAPS can be used for days or even weeks without interruption in the stratosphere due to their lightweight construction and power supply via solar cells. Above all, the lightweight construction means that HAPS require special weather conditions for their operation, especially during the take-off and landing phases as they travel vertically through the atmosphere. Due to the long time spent in the stratosphere, longer-term forecasts are needed for the operation of HAPS. MeteoSolutions GmbH will support the DWD both professionally, scientifically and in terms of software technology in the development of appropriate forecasting products.

1) The subcontracting was made through our cooperation partner Accso – Accelerated Solutions GmbH.

Supporting the StuMeTa 2022

04.02.2021

Yet again this year, MeteoSolutions GmbH supports the student meteorology conference (StuMeTa 2022), which is hosted by meteorology students at the Institute of Meteorology of Freie Universität Berlin, from the 26th to the 29th of May 2022. With our donation we pursue further promoting young meteorologists in German-speaking countries.

Weather forecasts for landscape photographers

21.12.2021

The time has come. Recently, specialized weather forecasts for landscape photographers have become available in the VIEWFINDR app, available for both Android and IOS. In close cooperation with the weather photographer Bastian Werner, MeteoSolutions has developed software that derives these weather forecasts from the ICON model results of the Germany’s National Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD). Landscape photographers can now see for their most popular photo spots for up to a day in advance whether the weather will cooperate for planned shots at sunrise/sunset, in fog, in high-contrast skies or smooth water surfaces for impressive pictures, for example

VIEWFINDR app screenshot

Christmas Greetings 2021

20.12.2021

The upcoming turn of the year is always an occasion to look back on the year that is coming to an end. For us, this is connected with the memory of our employee Daniel Sacher, who passed away this year. In recognition of his many years of work for us, this year we are donating to the residential home of his disabled son.

In addition, we were able to master the challenges posed by the pandemic and the resulting work largely from the home office. Therefore, the MeteoSolutions GmbH can once again look back on a successful business year with interesting projects.

In this context, we would like to express our warmest thanks in particular to our customers for their trust and good cooperation and, of course, to all the people and friends of the company who have accompanied us this year.

We now turn our gaze joyfully to the new year, when we can celebrate our twentieth anniversary. MeteoSolutions was founded on 1st February 2002. As in the past 20 years, we are looking forward to all projects our customers bring to us in the coming year. We hope for a lively exchange of ideas with them and, as always, measure ourselves by the success of the services we provide for our customers.

We wish you a peaceful, relaxed and healthy Christmas season surrounded by the people you care about and a powerful, successful start to a hopefully healthy New Year 2022 for everyone.

Christmas Card 2021

Publications about the project valORTree

26.11.2021

We are very pleased that our development and provision of characteristic time series of meteorological parameters from measured data and climate projections for an application in the context of research on the effects of climate change have now found their way into two publications.

Exclusively in German, the article „Erstellung von Testreferenzjahren für phytotoxische Klimakammerexperimente“ was published in the magazine promet, Heft 104, Regionale Klimamodellierung II ‒ Anwendungen (2021), by our team U. Gelhardt, F. Kittler and J. Lang in cooperation with L. Grünhage (Justus Liebig Universität, Gießen, Germany) und M. Baumgarten (Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany) (DOI: 10.5676/DWD_pub/promet_104).

Recently there is a second publication from Bálint Jákli et. al. from the Technical University of Munich with the title „Regionalized dynamic climate series for ecological climate impact research in modern controlled environment facilities“. The publication, which also describes the basis of our work in the project valORTree and to which our colleague U. Gelhardt contributed, was published in Ecology and Evolution (DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8371).

Merry Christmas

17.12.2020

For all of us, a difficult year is coming to an end, in which the Corona pandemic demanded a lot from us and will still demand a lot. We are all the more grateful that our company and the entire team of MeteoSolutions GmbH were not affected in terms of health, and that we were economically successful. Now we hope together for the New Year, which will hopefully give us back our usual life step by step.

In this spirit we wish you
a peaceful and happy Christmas and a successful start into a healthy new year 2021.

Following our tradition, we again express our gratitude for the successful year in a donation of € 600. Since institutions for animals are also affected by the Corona pandemic, we have decided to pay a part of the donation to the “Tierheim und Tierschutzverein Darmstadt und Umgebung e. V.” and to use the other part to sponsor an animal for one year, a Seychelles giant tortoise at the Vivarium in Darmstadt.

visIvis® Video of the webinar is online

19.11.2020

The webinar with the title "visIvis® as a High-Resolution Tool for Visibility Estimation" about our product visIvis® explains the principle mode of operation as well as the application possibilities and introduces the online available demonstrator. The demonstrator shows in a live mode current visibility determinations for a camera location in Munich, Germany and demonstrates by means of some examples how successfully visIvis® provides reliable results even in difficult situations.

Inform yourself about visIvis® by means of the webinar video and the demonstrator.

visIvis® as a High-Resolution Tool for Visibility Estimation

23.09.2020

The European key player “Deutscher Wetterdienst” (DWD) has just acquired first licenses of visIvis®, Vision-Based Visibility Estimation

DWD as the German weather authority provides reliable visibility information, as a “just-in-time” service for air traffic management, road traffic and critical infrastructure. Fog in particular poses a safety threat here and can cause significant delays.

Based on images from any observation camera, the software suite visIvis®, developed by JOANNEUM RESEARCH and distributed by MeteoSolutions, calculates millions of visibility estimates from a single image, essentially one for each pixel. In a project cooperation, Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) conducted a number of tests to compare some measuring instruments and observing methods for meteorological visibility. The results have shown that visIvis® is an ideal complement to localised measurements from transmissometers and a good alternative for human observers. visIvis® provides a complete overview of the observed area, so that very local weather phenomena are still detected quickly and reliably.

For more information on automated evaluation of visibility and distance, please click here or join our Webinar.

visIvis®: High-Resolution Tool zur kamera-basierten Sichtweitenmessung im Air Traffic Management
© JOANNEUM RESEARCH

Merry Christmas

22.12.2019

After a successful year 2019 we are left in joyful anticipation for the holiday season, which offers the possibility to calm down, look back on the events of the outgoing year, and to dare a glimpse on the new year 2020.

With this in mind we wish you

a merry peaceful Christmas season and a joyful start of a year 2020, filled with health and success.

It was a great pleasure collaborating with you all in the past year. As we did in the past years we continue this good tradition in 2019, we thank you for this successful year with a donation of 600€. This year equal shares will be beneficial to the animal welfare organisation, “Tierheim und Tierschutzverein Darmstadt und Umgebung e.V.” and the nature protection organisation “Naturefund e.V.”.

Study on Flying Patterns in Thunderstorm Situations

10.07.2019

Bad weather is one of the major reasons for delays in air traffic. Especially thunderstorm situations in summer challenge pilots and controllers. Thus weather information is used more and more in the cockpit and the control room. Facing thunderstorms, controllers find it very important to see doubtlessly at one glance no-go areas which aircraft should not enter.

To define such no go areas, a first study was already comissioned to MeteoSolutions GmbH by DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS). This study analysed the fly through patterns of commercial aircraft through adverse weather zones which were defined by thunderstorm warning levels. The warning leves came from the NowcastMix-Aviation product of Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), which is especially designed to support air traffic. One result of this study is shown in the chart below.

MeteoSolutions auf der MTWE 2018 in Amsterdam

Data for this study were provided by DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH and Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD). The project in the frame of SESAR 2020 PJ10 has received funding from the SESAR Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement [734143].

Recently MeteoSolutions GmbH was assigned by DWD to apply the methodology which was worked out in the previous project on data of ground based weather radar systems (reflectivity data).

ValORTree: MeteoSolutions provides characteristic time series for future climate

26.04.2019

Meteosolutions GmbH was commissioned by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to provide characteristic time series determined by measurement data and climate projections for phytotoxic climate chamber experiments and simultaneous modelling.

The Chair for Ecophysiology of Plants at the TUM is working on a research project funded by the German Environment Agency (UBA) entitled "Validation of phytotoxic ozone flux in needles and leaves as a requirement for a realistic, integrated risk assessment regarding the ecosystem services of forests in Germany" (ValORTree). The aim of this project is the estimation of the growth of beech and spruce trees under future climate conditions with focus on changing carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3) gas concentrations. The experimental realization takes place in newly equipped, walk-in climate chambers of the TUMmesa.

The provided characteristic time series were required for different meteorological variables that need to correspond meaningfully with each other. The dataset should be valid for the Spessart region in Germany and should reflect the typical annual cycle in hourly resolution. Characteristic time series are required for current and future time periods, with the use of different scenarios (RCP, representative concentration pathways) for generating future time periods.

For the implementation, measured data from the stations Spessart as well as ensemble data of regional climate simulations (ReKliEs-De and EURO-CORDEX) were used. Measurement data have been provided fully processed. Climate projection data were processed after the download to derive the climate signal. Based on the method for the determination of a test reference year (TRY) of the German National Meteorological Service (DWD, Deutscher Wetterdienst), the characteristic time series are determined. This method has been further developed for this purpose and was adapted to ground-level ozone concentration and its influencing factors. For the use of the determined characteristic time series, the data were customized to the climate chamber control system.

Based not only on the services provided in this project, MeteoSolutions GmbH has extended its services especially for the use of meteorological data from climate projections. Further information are available here.

MeteoSolutions GmbH at the DACH2019

08.02.2019

This year, MeteoSolutions GmbH will be participating at the DACH 2019 (German-Austrian-Swiss Meteorological Conference) from 18th to 22nd of March 2019 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We will be contributing with a booth and two lectures to this conference. In "Topic 1 - Measuring and Observing" on Tuesday, March 19, at 10:15am, Jürgen Lang will present the visIvis software by a lecture called "visIvis: Camera-based Visibility Determination of Fog Situations". A second lecture will be given by Jürgen Lang in session "Topic 11 - Flight meteorology" on Monday, March 18 at 5:15pm on the topic "Investigation of flight behaviour in convective weather situations by intersection of flight trajectories with radar-based meteorological quantities". This lecture is going to present the results of a MeteoSolutions GmbH project carried out for DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH.

The team will be available throughout the entire conference in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for all questions regarding our various services. You are welcome to make an appointment in advance.

Strategic partnership between JOANNEUM RESEARCH and MeteoSolutions

05.02.2019

Institut DIGITAL of JOANNEUM Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH and MeteoSolutions GmbH started the New Year 2019 with the successful signing of a cooperation agreement.

The idea of giving the cooperation between Institute DIGITAL and MeteoSolutions GmbH a framework and to further intensify the cooperation between science and industry has proven its value. Both institutions have already working fruitfully together on the development and marketing of the visIvis software. visIvis is an application, which provides camera-based estimation of visibility conditions with the help of image processing techniques. This approach is of central importance for air traffic safety and for the automation of weather observations. Institute DIGITAL and MeteoSolutions have already had joint appearances at meteorological exhibitions and conferences to present the latest versions of the product and research results to a large audience from around the world, from Norway to the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire.

The aim of the cooperation is on the one hand to further expand research and development of the visIvis software and on the other hand to put visIvis into multiple practical utilization.

Supporting the StuMeTa 2019

04.02.2019

Yet again this year, MeteoSolutions GmbH supports the student meteorology conference (StuMeTa 2019), which is hosted by meteorology students at the Institute of Meteorology and Climatology of Leibniz Universität Hannover, from the 29th of May to the 2nd of June 2019. With our donation we pursue further promoting young meteorologists in German-speaking countries.

Information Event „Career prospects for meteorology students“

28.01.2019

Jürgen Lang, managing director of MeteoSolutions GmbH, was invited to the "Berufsperspektiven für Studierende der Meteorologie" information event at the DMG section Berlin and Brandenburg in January 2019 regarding the career perspectives for meteorology students. Among others representing the public and private sector in Germany, Jürgen Lang portrayed the activities of meteorologists in his company. In addition, he provided information on the necessary skills and gave advice regarding job applications.

X-mas Greetings

19.12.2018

Thanks to the trust of our clients and customers, we can look back on a successful year. We were able to apply and expand our know-how in numerous interesting, exciting and also challenging projects. As an expression of our gratitude, we are donating an amount of 600 € again, for which the nature conservation organization Naturefund e.V. is planting trees to preserve a jungle in Bolivia for the wild animals.

With our Christmas card we wish you festive and relaxing Christmas days and a successful start to the New Year. We are looking forward to see you again in 2019, healthy and full of energy, and to continue successful collaborations.

Best regards from Jürgen Lang and the team of MeteoSolutions GmbH

MeteoSolutions auf der MTWE 2018 in Amsterdam

MeteoSolutions at the SID 2018

18.12.2018

This year, MeteoSolutions GmbH was represented at the SESAR Innovation Days 2018 in Salzburg from December 3rd to 7th with a poster on the topic "An Approach to Define Adverse Weather Zones Based on the Flight Management Performed by Pilots in Convective Weather Events". The results of a study commissioned by DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH at MeteoSolutions GmbH on the frequency of commercial aircraft flying through convective events of varying intensity were presented. The study was supported by the aviation meteorology department of the German Weather Service (DWD) by providing data and typical weather situations.

MeteoSolutions auf der MTWE 2018 in Amsterdam
Jürgen Lang (left), Managing Director of MeteoSolutions GmbH, pictured here presenting the poster to a visitor.

MeteoSolutions at the MTWE in Amsterdam

26.10.2018
Vision-based Visibility Measurement Software was presented from 9 to 11 October at the MTWE.

This year's Meteorological Technology World Expo (MTWE) took place in sunny Amsterdam from 9 to 11 October. Around 200 exhibitors and 4000 visitors from more than 100 countries were represented and exchanged information about the latest developments in meteorology. The fair appearance of MeteoSolutions GmbH took place together with JOANNEUM RESEARCH-DIGITAL (JR), an application-oriented research partner and authority in the field of information and communication technology from Austria.

The focus of the appearance was on the presentation of the latest version of the flagship product visIvis for camera-based visibility measurement. Countless experts from all over the world, from Norway to the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, showed a lively interest in this innovative and worldwide unique solution. In addition, software solutions such as DIVMET, a method used to increase safety and comfort in air traffic, were presented.

MeteoSolutions at the MTWE 2018 in Amsterdam
Photo (JR) from left to right: DI Dr. Matthias Rüther, Zhanna Bambach (both JR), Dipl.-Met Jürgen Lang, Dr. Fanny Kittler (both MeteoSolutions) and Dr. Harald Ganster (JR).

Determination of characteristic time series of meteorological variables for phytotoxic climate chamber experiments

05.10.2018

Meteosolutions GmbH was commissioned by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) to determine and provide characteristic time series of meteorological variables for climate chamber experiments.

The Chair for Ecophysiology of Plants at the TUM is working on a research project funded by the German Environment Agency (UBA) entitled "Validation of phytotoxic ozone flux in needles and leaves as a requirement for a realistic, integrated risk assessment regarding the ecosystem services of forests in Germany" (ValORTree). The aim of this project is the estimation of the growth of beech and spruce trees under future climate conditions with focus on changing carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3) gas concentrations. For the experimental realization in the newly equipped, walk-in climate chambers of TUMmesa meteorological variables in hourly resolution are required, describing the long-term average of the weather conditions for one year. Those characteristic time series should be valid for the Spessart region in Germany, representing a low mountain range, and are required for a present and future period, with the use of different RCP scenarios for the time series generation of the future period.

For the implementation, data from measurement stations operated by the Hessian Agency for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology (HLNUG) and the UBA as well as ensemble data from regional climate simulations (ReKliEs-De and EURO-CORDEX) are used and processed. Based on the method for the determination of a test reference year (TRY) of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (German National Meteorological Service), the characteristic time series are determined.

MeteoSolutions at the MTWE 2018

24.08.2018

This year, MeteoSolutions GmbH will again be represented at the MTWE in Amsterdam from 09 – 11 October 2017. As part of a strategic partnership with the JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH and their DIGITAL (JR-DIG) research department in Graz/Austria, MeteoSolutions GmbH and JR-DIG will jointly present the product visIvis. This is a sophisticated solution for the automated determination of meteorological visibility obtained by webcam images.

Additionally, MeteoSolutions GmbH is going to once again present their product DIVMET - a service for determining alternative flight routes during adverse weather conditions, which is particularly suitable for short term supporting pilots in the tactical flight phase during storms.

If you wish, you can already arrange an appointment in advance with the Managing Director of MeteoSolutions GmbH, Jürgen Lang.

R&D Project TBO-Met successfully completed

22.06.2018

The Horizon2020 funded project TBO-Met, in which MeteoSolutions GmbH participated with its DIVMET product, has just been successfully completed. The project was developed under the direction of the University of Seville and with the participation of the Universities of Madrid and Salzburg.

A corresponding press release was published in the SESAR news of May 2018. Due to the very promising results, the project partners were encouraged to further develop the findings and techniques of the TBO-Met project in follow-up projects funded by SESAR.

Presentation at the "2nd International Workshop on Meteorology and Air Traffic Management"

13.04.2018

The "2nd International Workshop on Meteorology and Air Traffic Management" will take place in Salzburg on 3rd and 4th of May 2018. There, the managing director of MeteoSolutions GmbH, Mr. Dipl.-Met. Jürgen Lang, will present the results of a study commissioned by DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH. The goal was to determine which convective weather events were flown through on the basis of meteorological data and the routes actually flown by commercial aircrafts.

The abstract of the presentation follows:

An Approach to Define Adverse Wx Zones Based on the Flight Management Performed by Pilots in Convective Weather Events

As a result of the prevailing weather conditions, such as lightning and hail, convective areas are a security risk to air traffic and must therefore be avoided by aircraft. The aim of an current project is to define convective areas (so-called ´Adverse Wx Zones´) geared towards civil aviation.

Using weather radar data, a radar reflectivity threshold of 37 dBZ has been frequently used in aviation as a criterion for dangerous convective weather events. This value was determined empirically in the 1980's based on a 6 class reflectivity product. This criterion is still often used in air traffic. So, it should be verified and if necessary redefined taking into account the current flight management performed by pilots during convective events.

For the study, radar raw data as well as convective warning levels from the NowCastMIX-Aviation system of the German National Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD) were considered. In order to analyze the flight management performed by pilots in convective weather events, the data of flight trajectories were merged with the meteorological variables and statistically evaluated. The study area was limited to the lower airspace of the north of Germany controlled by the Area Control Center (ACC) of the German ATC agency (DFS Deutsche Flugsicherungs GmbH) in Bremen.

The study was carried out in two phases. First, the chosen approach was tested using a data set consisting of data from three selected days with thunderstorms in June 2017. In a subsequent phase, the investigation period was extended to June 2017. For this month, the periods of convective weather conditions were determined according to predefined criteria and the corresponding data for these periods were prepared and evaluated. Finally, the results were used for a first proposal to define ´Adverse Wx Zones´.

New DWD website made by MeteoSolutions GmbH

13.04.2018

In March, the German Weather Service (DWD) launched a website that is of particular interest to so-called probe chasers. This page shows the trajectories of the probes regularly launched at the aerological stations of the DWD to measure the vertical profiles of the atmosphere. The probe is carried by a balloon that bursts at very high altitudes. The probe then sinks again and signals the position for some time. The probe chasers are interested in finding the probes and sending them back to the DWD, for example. This way, probe chasers contribute to environmental protection.

The functionality of this website was developed by MeteoSolutions GmbH on behalf of DWD.

Get to know MARLY

07.04.2017

Do you know RADOLAN data which is published by Germany’s National Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD)? Do you plan to use this data in your own applications and research topics? You are welcome to meet us at our stand on the Symposium "Verwendung von Radarniederschlagsdaten in der Ingenieurhydrologie" at RheinMain University in Wiesbaden on 21st of April 2017.

DIVMET is worth funding with regard to safety and comfort in air traffic

21.10.2016

DIVMET is a procedure developed by MeteoSolutions GmbH to determine safe, alternative flight routes in adverse weather conditions and particularly thunderstorms. It is primarily intended for use in the tactical phase, i.e. during the flight itself. Besides improving safety, it also helps to enhance comfort not only by avoiding turbulent flight phases but also by determining the arrival times at defined flyover points when an alternative flight path is followed.

BMWi Within the Meteorology for Air Traffic Management (MET4ATM) project financed within the BMWi’s LuFo V-2 aerospace research program, it is being investigated how this advantage can be used in the interaction with an arrival manager (AMAN) to optimise air traffic at an airport. MeteoSolutions GmbH is working closely with Selex ES GmbH (lead partner), Harris Orthogon GmbH and the Institute of Flight Guidance and Institute of Air Transportation Systems at the DLR on this project. The DIVMET procedure is also linked to a flight planning system developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The project began in April of this year and will run until summer 2019. It is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundeministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie, BMWi).

MeteoSolutions GmbH at the DACH 2016

21.10.2016

We successfully attended the German/Austrian/Swiss meteorology conference (DACH 2016), which took place in Berlin/Germany on 14–18 March 2016. At the event, we presented our latest product for the automated evaluation of meteorological visibility based on webcam images (WIMetIA). Interest in using this tool is particularly high in the field of aviation meteorology. Concrete queries regarding the WIMetIA product have been received from both national and international potential buyers. The below image shows our new exhibition stand before the conference started.

exhibition stand

New website

07.03.2016

And here it is – our brand new website! We would be delighted if you would take a few moments to explore our new online presence. Please also feel free to send us any feedback you may have. Both praise and constructive criticism are very welcome.

Stand at DACH 2016

25.02.2016

We will be represented at the DACH 2016 with an exhibition stand. The German/Austrian/Swiss meteorology conference will be held in Berlin on 14–18 March 2016. We will present our new WIMetIA software product for the automated evaluation of meteorological visibility based on webcam images at our stand and warmly invite you to drop by. MeteoSolutions GmbH’s Managing Director, Mr Jürgen Lang, will be available to meet you in person. If desired, an appointment can be arranged in advance.

Support for the StuMeTa 2016

22.02.2016

As in the previous year, we will once again support the national conference of meteorology students (StuMeTa), which will take place in Kiel on 4–8 May, with a donation. In doing so, we pursue our aim of supporting young meteorological researchers.

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