Weather
There are six main constituents of weather. They are temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, humidity, precipitation and cloudiness. Taken together, these components describe the weather at any given time.
Supporting air monitoring
Because air movements influence the fate of air pollutants, air quality monitoring should include measurements of the local weather patterns (meteorology). If the air is calm and pollutants cannot disperse, then the concentration of these pollutants will build up. On the other hand, when strong, turbulent winds blow, pollutants disperse quickly, resulting in lower pollutant concentrations.
Meteorological measurements to support air quality assessments need to conform to AS3580.14.
Weather data helps:
- Identify the source of pollutants;
- Predict air pollution events such as inversions and high-pollutant concentration days
- Simulate and predict air quality using computer models.
Air quality modelling is a mathematical simulation of how air pollutants disperse and react in the atmosphere to affect ambient air quality. Inputs for air quality models include meteorological data and emissions source information.
Aviation
Aviation users require high quality meteorological information necessary for safe and efficient civil aviation operations. Therefore, it is a requirement for weather monitoring methodology for aviation to meet the requirements of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
WMO has well defined and regularly updated techniques and data quality requirements for the measurement of:
- Temperature;
- Atmospheric pressure;
- Humidity;
- Surface wind;
- Precipitation;
- Radiation;
- Sunshine duration;
- Visibility;
- Evaporation;
- Soil moisture; and
- Upper air pressure, temperature and humidity; and upper wind.