Geography

Meteorology laboratory

Located on the third floor of Buckingham Building, the Meteorology Laboratory (Room 3.1) is a designated facility to support teaching and research in Meteorology and Climatology. The laboratory is available for student and staff use between 0900 and 1700 Monday to Friday (1630 on Friday) by prior arrangement with Dr Nicholas Pepin. Facilities include a general work space and networked PCs.

The laboratory houses a wide range of meteorological equipment including:

  • Analogue hand-held anemometers (Deuta)
  • Digital anemometers (Delta-T)
  • Whirling hygrometers (Cassella)
  • Humidity slide rules (Cassella)
  • Surface and soil temperature probes (Edale)
  • Mercury in glass thermometers (Cassella)
  • Air meter
  • Light meter
  • Rain gauges
  • Wind mast
  • Solarimeters (Delta-T)
  • Automatic Weather Station (Campbell Scientific)
  • Temperature/humidity data loggers (Hobo Pro Series)
  • Temperature/soil temperature data loggers (Hobo Pro Series)
  • Tipping bucket rain gauge
  • Air quality sampler

Meteorological equipment is used widely to support teaching and research in field climatology, and can be booked for dissertation use by undergraduate students, and for postgraduate research and staff use. Queries regarding equipment should be made to Gerda Gabriel (the Laboratory Manager).

Automatic Weather Station

One PC in the Meteorological Laboratory is connected by hard cable to an automatic weather station (AWS) on the roof of Buckingham Building. Meteorological data from this automatic weather station is used widely to support student learning and to aid the teaching of climatological data analysis.

Historical Weather Data

The Laboratory is also used as a store for past meteorological data in hard copy form. This includes:

  • Daily European Meteorological Bulletin (selected issues)
  • Daily Weather Report (published by the UK Met. Office)
  • Monthly Weather Report (discontinued by the Met. Office in 1993)
  • British Rainfall

All of the above can be viewed in person and data extracted as required. There is also a small library, including reference texts and manuals. Enquiries regarding access to data should be made to Dr Nicholas Pepin.